


Class 


Book' . .Vys 'i 


Copigiit’N® 


♦ 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 





















■'l »l> . . 3 _ 

A/ n 


■ '■ ’f-- A -■> ■■: 


. •' / 


t- ' n 


V, /, 


'■ ' '■ A'- 

(< : ' ctef ■■ ,' « V y , 

' fe’-' §‘ 

AmvA 

I , t • ’ . \ ♦ 


• i's 


. J' ^ 


> V 


> 4 * • 

' • 

i 


,\ 




’ I 




\ • 




./ • 

^ ' J ' r 


/ 


I r 


•I 


> 


.V 


, t ^ ^ 

' 4 

I . ^ 




i 

, 1 1 


} . 
vv. 


. fc.'ii' '■■ i.- 


m 


i' - A 


W? ■' ■ ' • ' ti'- 

" Xuwlfi'-' '' ’’ ' * ‘ ’ '‘'vi -*"U ’ 

BSaAV/ ' ■ V V ' ■ 


< 

'• m' 


*f 5 


V' 


\ 


\ 


fe". ' 8»Si' 




■’• " * *k# ^ 

tftiV-'W ' ■ r 

ftwV/W/i'' .^\ * 

TKsVIa • 


.*1 ,■■)/;' 'V.: 

» ,' • V 

. ' ' ft. 


\ 


f.- 


'• *} '*'•'' • 
Kw^ ^ ■ .tv .• 
. V. ■' 

k' ;; i , 3 ^' - 


'' '*V 

* L 


( 

,■> , 

f 






» j 

j 

..V 


' 4 I 




I I 


’ I 

y 



"vV ^ 



f 


« • 

» , 

. k , ( 




' 1 , ' 
* r 


I I 


/;•' ■ ' 


^ I 

.* »; 






' , » 


S^-. T' 

wl ; •* 





; 4 ' ■'. "V 


. i ' ; 


PPMmInl'TKf : 1 . •t i ( v * 

ft-rv i 

iih <■ i ■ ' ' 

* \^n ^n[ f 1 tf*) ill •' ii j . » A ^ 


y i. 

I 

‘ . » 


. f 




• /r . 


♦ 'n 


■t.if’ •■ 

> ** 1' 


'HllB!Wnt*V '•/ /' ..'. ,,•;!/< 'it V. 'I ■> . "T-' ' "* 


V' 


I « 




,'. f • 






fed® V''fc f'^".'^ ' <’ V ;■■" 

‘ ‘V’JV'. iji'- ..V ‘ >, ' / >■• 



''‘I*''' ' , ' 

,, ' ,v^ '■ • ^ - 


. r ». 


j -'■■■p 







ifi ' I 


I' ; ■♦•; 

.V'/ ■•;<; ;.;‘-'V'..;^ 




'f 




. /l.- 'i''' .•'■ 




: * ': ‘•i-^ ' ^' '■f ' 

* '^ ^ As mifm jt' 









< ( 


V f- 





-'I' ' 1 ,>W^' ■'! '■'•'• 
M =''' W' s''''' 

-«^€Mi is «^A w . * 

» *lC'- « 

^'? 21 t- * ' #■ : ^ WA 

■ •“■T* < ii • . '1 .V \.. ^ ‘ 

I ' » .o. i'^ » . ■ ■ 1 


• » 


‘Tm - !• ■'!’ .3 

-JniM 


■‘ri':’--;'k 4 t'’ 4 ^‘’l 


- ^ 


w 

h- 


*^'i. >rf 


. 

, 1 T , _- 











• f 



J'.’.'r'iS'. ^•^• 




I'O 




I t 

L 'k 


* J 



• i» # 

.i i V i . 


■* 


fi^ 

' ’ E.'^^ '■ -i/* ■ ■ ■■ N*'. 

... I ^ • ^wA' ^ - .' '-!j jr' s - ■', ^ *■ - 



A* : 4 . <• V- • ‘ f . Am^ ' ‘ - •** 

' - ' ‘ A' ^ jT' s - ■' I ^ '■ ' ■ . l ' * ■: /-» - 

#, - • ; . isj 

i<'#v ^ , Ivwi h ^ JkMSp- i|i 

^ 'V'"" ■ * * * • ' v' ^ * J"* ^ I 

■•.riA-^v >\>A. •■:* H • ' ■ ’ '’‘i 


.= M^a .-' ■ , ■ .A‘ '% i'. : 

■#F.';^:?;.:’Vj« 'v-r 

'^* ^ _ a t ^ TkZ^ 

.Jbaff i'ii.v 


s 



^ • J* 1 


.>•- 


< . 




^ r* 








The Dying Lamp 

The Glorious Dawn. 


A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem. 


By 




J. TOOKER FORD. 
>« 






Freeport, III. 
BROWN & DOLLMEYER 


BOOK DEALERS 


1 


''v \ 

V 


THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 
‘•'wo Copies RtceivED 

JUN. 23 1302 

H OPVmOHT ENTRY 

S8 ^ XXo. No. 
^ w- ^ S S' 
COPY B. 


COPTEIGHT 1902 
BY 

J. TOOKER FORD. 




* t c « e t 
♦ • ♦ e « € 

« « ^ (€«»«• 


€ t t % • 

» € * 

• • * • • 
e • 4 

• • «i e • 







Advance Publishing Co., Printers and Binders 
74-76 W. Lake Street, Chicago. 


DEDICATION. 


To the memory of my beloved father, the Kev, George Ford : 

Whose supreme devotion to the cause of missions in 
India, whose love and gentleness in subsequent pastoral 
labors in our own land, and whose unfailing patience under 
long continued bodily sufferings, breathed an inspiration 
into our life which can never die; is this little volume most 
affectionately dedicated. 

By his Son, 

Jas. Tooker Ford. 




[rtj 






’f#' 






'.*>1 












b'( 






lU'i) 


f ■ T'i, 


*^’i^'ii'iSJ8lW’‘''W . - . •, 

,i.v L \ TO^*’' 




'> ■' ’ • .vv'. . - • ■ ■■-■■.vx-f: ■ 

:■ iV'VV;H'i»V- ■' ' ;■• 4vv' 

’ ..f,; ^:'7“ , * .'].>' • Lv ;M^wfml .. V ^v7‘.. •* v' 


'f ' L»,' ' ' I J 


V.' ,Y.',vV' ^ '<■ ■' 

i<'‘ ' >r ±^. '. . ' . »iiiA 


.\.l''. 



V' 


‘‘ I ‘V t‘ ■' 


r«^ ,i./ 


» . r/ 


I N 


/ « 


' « 

. ^ 


4 I 

* .” 


' • I ‘ ‘ . 


I ‘ • 




If,'.'''', ' . ' ■ "','.■'’■1, .' ;?■■' 

' ’ _ ' .'v'» JUm ‘ 1 .11* • 1- \ • 


ifc'!'' ' '.r,' ‘ 




:<■ ..' 








s. 


■' Am" 





„', !■' 


V. 


1 


I 

* - 



'^i *• 


t' 'if* 


"Mai : ,: ' ^ ■ ' ' v>.|'.-,: ■ ■.: - ;, im, 

.■■ 5:': / v:, <- < ■■: 


V '■■ 's'' ' * v'*' */■/■' '.i' A 1"''^ 

' )y^yyrr 

miim.. f '.'iV 



■w 


/'■■’ W,"kT'''' . "" 

S>i 'IM' f ' '/,>i'‘'<iV‘"'.'’ ’ ' • ■ ■ 


>■': n ■'■• - 

■ ‘ J4 » . ■ 


'/f 


.. # 


V 


1 

• • 


t 1 


5kKW '•?' V' 71 • ■ '• / V ’virMr'-UA ' ’ >■ ,' ■ !• 

'syr-;,,,: \ 


11^ ) ( 


'4 


>■ ,:/■ 

• ■'■;, Af"' 


'' ■ !, 'f'' ' ■- ' ' . ' ' .’tV 

Af' K';' -'i 

L’f,..lX'.‘ •■'■ -,*4 


w’!' A,.AV'-' 

'''■•' A.', ' tiA’i]" 

■'A>',\^ ‘ 


\\u, 


S.l 


W' 






lif.) 


!.'({' •VmUiTftn 



i' 




CONTENTS 


Chapter. Page. 

I. The Prophecy 1 

II. The Hammer 11 

III. The Gentle Voice of Mercy 21 

IV. Manacles and Scourge 31 

V. The Secret Order 40 

VI. God’s Remedy 49 

VII. Two Scenes 57 

VIII. The First Wail 65 

IX. The Ferment 72 

X. The Pivotal Point 80 

XI. The Crisis 85 

XII. John a Prisoner 91 

XIII. Revenge. ' 90 

XIV. A Woman’s Deed 106 

XV. Elkanah 115 

XVI. Some Opinions 120 

XVII. Wars and Rumors of Wars 125 

XVIII. A Deep Laid Scheme 132 

XIX. The Expectant Hand 142 

XX. An Oath 147 

XXL God’s Hand 149 

XXII. Another Aspect 152 

XXIII. Two Opposite Currents 162 

XXIV. A Kind of Relief 170 

XXV. Father and Son 178 

XXVI. Roman Views of Destiny 185 

XXVII. Worse and Better 195 

XXVIII. Two or Three Predicaments 204 

XXIX. The Famine . 215 

XXX. Release 223 

XXXI. Some Final Scenes 232 

XXXII. A Religious Spectacle or Two 240 

XXXIII. The Triumph 250 



A TALE OF 

THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. 


CHAPTER 1. 

THE PROPHECY. 

N the City of J emsalem, in the Herodian gymnasium 
called the Xystus, within whose marble colonnades 
and under whose sculptured porticos Greek games 
and athletic exercises of all kinds, — such as foot racing, 
wrestling, and boxing with the cestus, had been introduced 
and fostered by the Herods, to the scandal of the staid 
inhabitants of the city; under the shadow of one of the 
marble porticos of this Xystus, a noisy gang of Hebrew youths 
is gathered about a forlorn looking human being. The 
Xystus is otherwise empty: neither in the court open to the 
sky, nor in the shadows of the surrounding colonnades does 
the eye see the white, naked bodies of any Roman or Greek 
athletes, who frequent the place and stir the young Jews of 
Jerusalem to imitate their skill. At this hour the walls and 
pillars are echoing the derisive shouts of a rabble of Jew- 
ish youngsters who are harrying a half naked, emaciated, 
strange looking creature, also a Jew, who seems wholly un- 
mindful of their scolTs and cruelty. A simple cloth hangs 
from his loins to his bony knees. His bare head is thatched 
with a mat of black hair, out from whose fringes large, 
mournful eyes are lifted upward over the jeering crowd into 
the open sky above the court. Helplessly he is being pulled 
along with a listless, swinging, jerking gait, unmindful of 
blows or brutality. 



2 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


Patiently he stands by a stone pillar while the youths 
prepare cords to tie his hands, when suddenly, with a 
spasmodic movement, he lifts both hands to the open sky 
and opening wide his thin-lipped mouth, he cries, above 
the yells that would drown his voice, with a long drawn 
wail: ^^Woe, woe, to Jerusalem! a voice from the east, a 
voice from the west, a voice from the four winds against 
the city, and against the people, and against the temple!” 
But no shouting, no cuffing could make him pause until 
his message was fully uttered, and then he relapsed into 
his former passivity. Quickly those Jewish youths tie his 
hands and bind him firmly to the pillar, (unnecessary pre- 
caution) and then one of them, amid shouts and urging, seizes 
a scourge and soon the falling thongs were raising bloody 
welts on the bare, and already scarred back. The figure 
neither winces nor turns his head but seems like one in a 
trance, as he gazes outward; he makes no supplication and 
sheds no tears.* 

^^Stay not, Ben Elkanah!’' ^^Scourge it out of him!” 
^^Thou doest well.” ^^Teach him a lesson. Gad!” ^^Teach the 
lying prophet a lesson!” By such words the rabble encouraged 
the principal actor, who was Gad, the son of Elkanah, an 
eminent merchant of Jerusalem. “See, he feels it not, the 
scourge might as well bite the post,” pufied Gad, pausing 
and letting the lashes trail on the smooth stone floor. “Sons 
of Israel,” he laughed, as he again swung the scourge on 
high and let it fall, “I wish this was the back of the whole 
herd of Jews that favor Eome; then would I draw the blood 
till it flowed.” The open colonnade resounded with the dis- 
cord of applauding yells. 

All suddenly the shouting died away, for (strange sight 

*Josephus, Wars. Bk. 6. Chap. 5. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


3 


in the Xystus) a woman, an aged woman with snow-white 
bare head, was seen hastening toward the throng. Instinc- 
tively in their surprise they made way for her, as with flash- 
ing eye she commanded her passage toward the center. Ev- 
ery eye was on her and every mouth was shut as she spoke: 

^^Ben Elkanah, how dare you be guilty of this cruelty? 
Shall a Hebrew have no pity for his fellow? Loose this 
creature and let me take him.’^ 

Gad stood ofl* with a half comical look: ^^Eachel, here 
is an enemy within our gates, and we were only drawing 
his treason out of him. The elders of the city have often 
tried to rid him of his nonsense by beating, and have at 
last given him up as a hopeless case, so we are trying our 
hand.^^ 

^^But Albanus, the Eoman procurator, was merciful and 
dismissed the man without punishment, and shall not the 
sons of Israel love mercy?” said Eachel, as she tugged at 
the cords; and then when she had loosed them she said 
quietly: ‘^^Child, follow me!” and from amid the parting 
crowd she led the passive man. 

Eachel was matron or overseer of the domestic affairs 
of part of the palace of Agrippa II. This king’s residence 
lay hard by the Xystus and overlooked its porticos, and, hap- 
pening to see preparations for renewing their cruel sport, 
Eachel had dared her exploit. The portion of the palace 
under Eachel’s authority consisted of a multitude of small 
rooms connected by long halls, and was four stories high. 
These were for the accommodation of lesser officers and 
servants when Agrippa II. visited J erusalem with his retinue. 
Xow, it was unoccupied, except by officers, with their ser- 
vants, of the cohort of Eoman soldiers which was lodged 
in the barracks on the palace grounds. 


6 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


marching below them; a hundred spears in even ranks glit- 
tered at their feet; a hundred scabbards rustled in unison as 
the men tramped by to some duty. 

Slowly lifting his now clad arms, and wide stretched 
fingers, and gazing impassively upward, he opened wide his 
thin lips and lamentably poured forth his oft repeated wail: 

^^Woe, woe to Jerusalem! a voice against the holy house; 
a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides; a voice 
against the whole people; woe! woe!^^ 

Euth stood shrinking and little Paul turned and clung 
to his grandmothers neck; but no man of the passing century 
so much as lifted his eyes at the weird sound; each man looked 
straight before him and marched. Ben Ananus then slowly 
crept down and seated himself under one of the terebinth 
trees of the palace garden. 

When Euth at last concluded to return home, little Paul 
seemed to be in some doubt as to whether he cared to stay 
with grandmother over night, as he usually loved to do. But 
soon re-assured, he was as happy as ever. And, as his mother 
left she kneeled down by the round-faced, plump-bodied, 
bright, happy boy, and keeping back her tears: ^'My sweet 
little Citron, kiss Mamma.’" Both chubby hands held her 
face and a chain of kisses linked with laughter, ran from 
her forehead to her chin and up the other side. The mother 
playfully snatched up her boy to her bosom, and burrowed 
her nose in his ticklish neck, making him squirm and kick 
and bubble with shouts. But once out of the great gate of 
the palace, and on her lonely way home, she brushed her face 
again and again. 

That night after the strange man had gone to his com- 
fortable bunk. Grandmother Eachel, after hearing the little 
prayer of her sweet child, laid him down on her own bed and 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


7 


rested by his side on the coverlet till he should close his eyes. 
But the baby-hoy was never wider awake. After lying very 
quietly for a few minutes, he suddenly turned his face, with 
wide open eyes, to his grandmother and lisped: ^^Who ist that 
man?” 

‘^He is a very poor man that has no home.” 

The little head rolled back to its place in deep medita- 
tion; then again turning with eagerness and with emphasis 
on the word ^^Him:” 

'TDoes Jesus love him?” 

^^Oh yes, darling! He loves him just as much as you or 
grandmother.” 

^^Why dothent he give him a home, then?” 

Eachel paused: think Jesus tells grandmother to give 

him a home.” 

Another long pause and the eyes blinked at the dusky 
ceiling: ^^What makes the man say all the time ^Ho! Hli- 
seum?’ ” 

cannot tell, my darling.” 

^^What does that mean, granma — ^Ho TJliseum!^ ?” 
suppose the man means to say that God will punish 
Jerusalem.” 

^^Why?” quickly shot out. 

^^Oh, I think because the people didn’t love Jesus, the 
Savior, but nailed him to the cross.” 

^‘'But you love him, don’t you granma? God won’t ’pank 
you, will he granma? Hor mamma, will he? Hor Uncle 
John? But will God ’pank papa? Say, granma, will God 
’pank papa? Will he ’pank granpa Kana?” The innocent 
earnestness of the boy and his beseeching eyes as seen in that 
dim lamp-light, touched Eachel’s heart, and, hardly knowing 
whether to laugh or cry she bent over her dear boy with a 


8 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


great, swelling feeling in her heart, and kissed the soft baby 
lips again and again, while an nnconscious tear dropped on his 
face. Instantly the hack of the chubby hand began rubbing 
the kisses off his lips and then the tickling tear. 

^^What makes yon cry, granma? God won’t ’pank Chris- 
tians, will he?” He enunciated the word Christians as plain- 
ly as an old person but with childish sweetness. ^^But when 
Jesus comes what will papa do, and granpa Kana? Papa 
says he’s not a Christian, he don’t like Christians, and granpa 
Kana isn’t, neither, and aunt Lule isn’t and uncle Abner 
and none of um.” 

Eachel leaned on her elbow in silence. 

^Hs that what you cry for, granma?” 

^‘Tes, yes, my sweet pet,” said Eachel, rising so as to 
rid herself of her sweet inquisitor; and as she went into the 
next room she sat and wiped her fast flowing tears. She heard 
him rolling back and forth and ^she called back: ^^My 
little Paul must go to sleep now.” ^^Yeth, granma,” and soon 
the room was quiet. Eachel sat, and as she sat a flood of 
thoughts poured in upon her. There had been strange prodi- 
gies in the city which had made the superstitious people about 
her nervous. But to her they were only the foretold signs 
of the Lord. A comet shaped like a sword had been hanging 
over the city for a year and had but recently disappeared.* 

The temple guard at the last feast of the Passover had 
spread this story: At midnight a sudden light as bright as the 
day was seen shining round the great altar and it continued 
shining half an hour. The same guard had reported again 
that the inner gate of the temple on the east, — a gate of 
brass and of such dimensions and weight that it took twenty 
men to open it when shut and which was fastened by iron 
CThis and tbe foiPowing (signs. Jo-sephus, Wars. Bk. 6. Ch. 5.) 



“He looks very soldierly in complete armor.” 


(See page 12.) 


. • < • r ■• 

M A. s 







i ■ 



« r/ * Vtlfll 

j ^ *Jt!* 

^ ^ l^ J 






i • f- 

-f fl ^ % 
Tv*# 


f* 



■* ^ 1 , «* 


•t . 

« 

T/ 

p* » 

a*-- 

► 1 ^ 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


9 


"bolts let into the stone, suddenly one night flew open of its 
own accord. People were terrified at these things but Eachel 
had possessed her soul in peace. Some weeks ago long after 
sunset the whole city was called to the roofs to look at the 
remarkable appearance of the sky. Chariots in the clouds, and 
moving squadrons, mingled and formed in array of battle, and 
circled the sky in rapid and terrific career. She, herself, had 
seen this strange appearance. The similitude to war, of the 
moving light and clouds was startling. Now, recently' at the 
last Pentecost, the priests had spread the report that, as they 
entered into the temple a strange, rushing sound was heard 
as of a moving host, and a voice saying: ^^Let us depart hence.’^ 
These various happenings to which she had not given special 
weight at the time, now came rushing from memory with 
peculiar vividness upon her soul. The weird, mysterious voice 
which had been sounding at all the feasts and public gather- 
ings for fully twelve months, and which no scourging nor vio- 
lence could silence, now sounding in her own house opened 
the door of memory; and the very babbling of her darling pet 
intensified the feeling of awe which these previous events 
now breathed on her soul. She felt a mysterious ecstacy, and 
a holy dread, as a vision of her Lord sitting (as she had once 
seen him) on the Mount of Olives, rose up clearly as if seen 
yesterday, and bis words again sounded with perfect distinct- 
ness just as they were uttered: ^^There shall be signs in the 
sun, and the moon, and the stars; upon the earth distress of 
nations with perplexity; men’s hearts failing them for fear, 
for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. These are the days 
of vengeance in which all things which are written shall be 
fulfilled. There shall be great distress upon the land and 
wrath upon the people and they shall fall by the edge of the 
sword and shall be led away captive into all nations. Jeru- 


10 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


Salem shall be destroyed and her children within her, and of 
the goodly temple there shall not be left one stone upon 
another that shall not he thrown down, and the City of J ern- 
salem shall he trodden down of the Gentiles till the time of 
the Gentiles he fulfilled.” 

She could see the tremendous drama pass before her 
quickened vision and she sat long in her amazement. The 
spectacle almost beyond endurance made her sigh, and heave, 
as in a silent heart struggle she prayed: ^^Oh Lord! Oh 
Lord! My Lord!” The mighty shadow of coming events 
had fallen upon her and thus the Lord was preparing her 
for the scenes into which she would shortly enter. 

At last coming to herself, she parted the curtains of the 
quiet chamber; there lay her cherub boy fast asleep on his 
side. Kneeling, she prayed with mighty travail of soul for the 
doomed city, whose inhabitants had cried: ‘^His blood be 
on us and on our children. Away with him! Crucify him! 
Crucify him!” She prayed for Elthemus; and his father 
Elkanah; and for Abner, and Gad, Elkanah’s other sons, and 
for Elule, his daughter, a dear girl. She prayed for them 
all, that God would bless them and in the day of his wrath 
remember mercy. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


11 


CHAPTER II. 

THE HAMMER. 

OOKIHG down from the lofty stone battlements of 
the fortress of Antonia, which commanded from 
the north a view of the splendid and well nigh 
matchless Jewish temple, whose vast courts and magnificent 
colonnades and impregnable walls lay at his feet, is a Roman 
commander or Tribune. He is looking off through an em- 
brasure, over the city, hut not at its oriental architecture. 
The palace of Agrippa II. just across the Tyropean valley 
does not interest him; nor the Xystus with its shade trees 
and porticos; nor the city prison against the Acra wall; nor 
the magnificent palace of Herod, the Great, whose beauty 
shines above the trees of its enclosure, high over the crest of 
Zion. It is nothing to him that its wonderful gardens are 
kept perpetually green by a central fountain, from which flow 
tiny rivulets in all directions; or that its groves of trees of all 
kinds are embellished with rare white forms of Greek art. 
Also he is too well accustomed to the irregular streets beneath 
him to think about their narrowness, or that a net work of 
bridges crosses and recrosses the east and west streets from 
roof to roof over all the city. He has occupied the city 
so long that the compact mass of marble temple, and 
palaces, and mansions, and two-story, houses, and encircling 
wall, and transverse walls, and bristling towers, — some 
few of whom rise in power) over one hundred feet, — all are 
an old sight to him. Something new has come to the 
Tribune (whose name is Metellus) and his eye, as he leans 
on his elbow, is ranging along a particular street in the 



12 


THE DYINa LAMP; 


division of the city called Acra, directly west of his fortress 
of Antonia. 

Please notice the goodly warrior as he leans over the 
battlement mnsing. His shoulders are broad; his form com- 
pact and well proportioned and he looks very soldierly, clad 
as he is in complete armor. An officer’s crest proudly arches 
and nods above his ornamented steel helmet, whose visor 
partly shades a thoroughly strong, well chiseled Eoman face. 
On his body shines a polished steel cuirass from which hangs 
a skirt of linked mail almost to his Imees. His knees are 
bare. Bronze greaves guard the legs in front and bending 
back, meet at the calves; these are lined with sponge or 
perhaps leather. His shoes are made of flexible hide and 
reach up to the ankle and meet the greaves. This man, Metel- 
lus, is commander or Tribune of a cohort of Eoman soldiers 
stationed at Jerusalem to preserve the peace of the turbulent 
city. A thousand men* are under him, — men from the far 
west, who have seen service in Gaul, and Greece, and Egypt, 
— now garrisoned with him at the fortress called the tower of 
Antonia, or at the palace. His cohort is divided into ten 
centuries, each century being commanded by a Centurion, 
and sub-divided into ten bodies, each company of ten being 
under a Decurion. 

Yonder from his eyrie-beat on the top of the tower, with 
Metellus, one ’of the common soldiers watches the moving 
city. Please take pains to notice his equipment. His plain 
helmet of leather guarded with iron, is held with a throat 
latch; his breast-plate is of iron and plainly forged. In his 
hand he carries a pike, — an oaken staff flve or six feet long 
headed with a sharp iron point. At his left side hangs a 
heavy two edged sword in its sheath and on his* right clings 

* Josephus, Wars. Bk. 3. Chap. 4. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


13 


a dagger. Over his shoulder hangs his shield. As he turns 
in his heat, notice the device of his cohort blazoned upon 
the shield. Four spreading wings spring from its central 
boss, — two spreading upward and two downward; on his 
shield also is the mark of his cohort and his own name. His 
sandals of hard leather are held by thongs about his feet and 
ankles. A sentry thus strides here between heaven and earth, 
day and night, to mark the temper of the city. The soldiers 
below have just eaten their supper of wheat measured to 
each man and ground by themselves in hand mills, and made 
into porridge or baked into cakes. The day^s work is done and 
a hard day^s work it has been, with its drill and exercises 
imposed on all Eomans lying in garrison. 

Metellus leans over the embrasure lost in thought, with 
the unnoticed hum of the great temple rising up beneath 
him, and the regular click clack of the hob-nails of the slow 
sentry sounding behind him. Suddenly a Centurion, with a 
soldier to relieve the sentry, appears at the stairs, — the Cen- 
turion bearing a staff, or vivis, symbol of his rank. His duty 
is done and he stands unnoticed behind the commander. 

^^Hoble Metellus,” said he, with a salute, and speaking 
jocosely, ^Vhat weighty matter occupies our commander’s 
thought?” 

Without the least embarrassment Metellus turned: ^^My 
good Vitellus, I have often thought, as I looked down from 
here, that this is the strangest, most incomprehensible people 
we ever have had to deal with. I see increasing evidence of 
another outbreak almost any day. They have always been 
restive under our rule, — ^yet, they besought our protection. 
I mark increasingly frequent harangues in the temple and 
elsewhere. Those knots of men and those crowds yonder you 
may be assured are speaking no friendly words for us. Their 


14 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


looks of open scorn, and supercilious contempt, as we traverse 
the city to and from our exercises, indicate a feeling very far 
from friendliness or the proper attitude of subjects/^ 

have noticed this, noble Metellus, and their hatred is 
more and more exposed every day. I have come to despise 
and hate this nation; I never had such a disgust for any other 
people.^^ 

“Their arrogance,” said Metullus, “is the more remark- 
able, because as a nation, they are very insignificant and they 
have no history of conquest as the Greeks have, who, under 
the spell of Alexander’s genius, drove before them the Per- 
sian Darius and the Indian Porus, and brought the whole 
world to their feet.” 

will not take long to teach them a salutary lesson of 
obedience when once we are at it.” 

“No, indeed,” said Metellus, sitting leisurely in the em- 
brasure. “One would suppose their leading men would con- 
sider that opposition to the conquerors of the world would 
be vain. Some of them surely know that the vast region of 
Gaul with its many cities, some as large as this, and admira- 
bly fortified by nature, — ^by mountains, or rivers, or ocean, 
was subdued by us. The same is true of greater Germanica, 
whose people are not traders and farmers like these, but 
natural and practiced warriors accustomed to infinite hard- 
ship, — all stalwart men like him, (pointing to the Gothic 
sentry) and yet Pome rules Germanica. I wonder they do not 
consider these facts. Our standards are, you may say, every- 
where; in Britain, to the far north in the sea-girt land; in 
Carthage; at the pillars of Hercules; in Egypt; among Moors, 
Numedians, Arabians, even to the river Indus, all the provin- 
ces of Lesser Asia and even Asia itself, practically, is under 
our rule, and yet, these little Jews have the folly to keep on 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


15 


breeding dissension and discontent, as if the hope of 
throwing off our yoke were not sheer insanity. Our govern- 
ment, I take it, has wrought out greater prosperity for them 
than their own, as seen by the beauty and wealth of the 
city now;” and Metellus turned carelessly to the panoramic 
view before them. 

^^They are a viprous brood, all of them,” exclaimed 
Vitellus, as he saw the surging crowds in the temple below. 

The words made Metellus start unconsciously. Little did 
the Centurion suspect that the thoughts of his commander, 
when he saluted him, were as far from war as the east is from 
the west. Across the Tyropean valley opposite Agrippa’s 
palace was a house, and in that house was a Jewish maiden, 
and she was the cause of the commander’s long stay on the 
battlements of Antonia. In between the thoughts of the hard 
routine duties of garrison life came a face and form. When 
he messed with his subalterns it often came to him; when he 
girded on his cuirass, and leather skirt tinkling with its links 
of polished iron, it would be present; when he supervised the 
daily drill of the light armed troops and stood with folded 
arms reviewing the running, jumping, stone slinging, fencing 
and javelin exercises, he often had to confess to himself that 
his thoughts were somewhere else than on the drill. Alone in 
his sumptuous chamber, away from the ceaseless hubbub of 
the barracks, or the mess room, he was troubled by it. He 
broke out impatiently once as he sat with his parchment rolls, 
— “By the goddess of Love, how that girl’s face pursues me!” 
But he could not muster the will to banish his torment, — 
the annoyance was too sweet. 

His line of travel through the city had led him past her 
house; and the very first time he saw her, two months before, 
sitting in the window overhanging the street, those wonder- 


16 


THE DYING LAMP; 


fill eyes, dark and full of deep feeling, gentle with kindness, 
yet glancing with passion, met his accidentally, and made him 
pause and give a second long look. Since then he had noticed 
her often, sitting at the same open window; and, as he looked 
up in the quick march past, he sometimes caught her lifting 
her eyes as if also to snatch a glance. Such beauty he 
confessed he had never seen in maiden before, either Eoman, 
Grreek, or Jewish. Little by little this passion in Metellus 
had grown, and even before he could realize what he had done, 
he found himself paying for an armlet at the bazaar of a 
goldsmith. It was a golden, gem-studded, serpentine arm- 
let, to twine about some fair arm. Its eyes were two tiny 
blood-red rubies, and in its crest a flashing diamond. Upon 
one of the coils, on the smooth inside, the engraver engraved 
in Jewish characters the words: ^^Metellus, the Tribune.” He 
kept it a long while on his table waiting for a chance to let 
it speak for him. 

In his official position he had met some of the principal 
men who were friendly to the government and among them 
was Elkanah, but that Elkanah was the father of this beau- 
tiful Jewess, he did not dream. One day, however, passing 
across the temple court on business, he saw, to his astonish- 
ment and secret rapture, his divine vision in actual flesh and 
form, richly attired, and walking by the side of the white 
haired Elkanah. They were both passing out of the Treas- 
ury. Elkanah obsequiously salaamed to the officer, raising 
his hands with palms down and bending his body very low. 
Metellus cordially extended his right hand as Elkanah ex- 
claimed, “The peace of God rest upon thee, noble Me- 
tellus!” 

“And peace be unto you,” was the response. perceive,” 
said Metellus, “that the favor of your God continues to be 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


17 


richly bestowed upon you. You may well count yourself 
one of his favored people.^^ 

^^One of the very least,” said Elkanah, with a depreca- 
ting motion. ^^For his smallest favor we are thankful and 
praise him especially for the blessing of a good government.” 
Metellus bowed. ^^This, noble Metellus, is my daughter, 
Elule;” and then turning to the maiden: ‘^The noble Metellus, 
the commander at the fortress.” Their eyes met full again. 
The formal words spoken were nothing, but the unspoken 
response of their two natures remained a happy memory. 
Her sweetness of expression, her charms of form, her rich 
beauty of face, her general womanly attractiveness thrilled 
him. They parted in a moment; Metellus resolving in his 
heart to find some way to express a love he questioned not 
was reciprocated. 

The moon had not waned before letters had been ex- 
* Dhanged by them. Her messages never went beyond the limits 
of formal acquaintanceship, yet were always kind and cour- 
teous. Their good sense and evident womanly dignity and 
reserve, only made the commander more eager to know her 
intimately; but the longed-for permission to visit her was 
not forthcoming. One day, however, summoning his bold- 
ness, with a kind of desperation, he accompanied his mes- 
sage with the casket containing the jeweled armlet, and with 
breathless suspense awaited the result. The messenger in re- 
turn brought a parcel; and Metellus’ heart sank within him 
when unrolling it there lay his own casket. Mechanically 
opening it, what met his delighted eyes? One white lily, such 
as he had seen in her hair, and these words: 

^‘"To Metellus, Tribune, 

Your beautiful gift I keep as a remembrance of a friend. 

Elule, daughter of Elkanah.” 


18 


THE DYING LAMP; 


^^Sweet as the perfume of her breath/^ whispered the 
officer, as he kissed the white token gently, again and 
again. 

All this had happened weeks ago, and now the lily was 
lying, a brown, shriveled treasure in the casket. Never had 
Metellus got beyond that step. With a vague longing he had 
now climbed to the top of Antonia and was looking over to- 
ward her house roof if chance should lead her to walk there, 
and it was in such a reverie that Vitellus had caught him; 
and when Vitellus said bitterly, “Viprous brood, he uncon- 
sciously winced. 

^^Let us go down to sup;’^ and down through the echoing 
ways of that quaint keep they went till they came into the 
great mess room, where groups of legionaries were boisterously 
gambling with tali. The talus was a piece of bone something 
like a knuckle bone; not quite cubical, but long; not rectan- 
gular, but irregular in shape; two sides being convex and the 
opposite concave, with the ends pointed, so they fell only on 
one of four sides marked 1, 3, 4, 6. Metellus paused above 
them, as the soldiers sat on the floor, and watched their game. 
^^And now,” said he, ^Throw for Metellus and see if the Fates 
will prosper his hope.” 

"Ah, noble Metellus,” said one of his staff, "you are 
tired of the place and wish to return to Kome.” 

They all watched the throw. A shout of laughter as the 
radiant faces looked up at the smiling commander. 

"Six and Six.” "A duplex the flrst time.” 

"But let it be two out of three,” said Metellus. 

They cast the two tali again and withdrew, with bated 
breath: "A double ^one.’” A disappointed hush. 

"Again,” and .all was still. 

A general "Ah-h-h!” rose from the men. One talus 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


was caught on its end, leaning on the other — an ill omen; 
the other gave six. 

^^It means,’^ said Yitellus, ^^that you will be ordered back 
to Eome and promoted, but will not remain there.” 

Metellus bade them farewell and retired to his chamber. 
Superstitiously putting by their game because of the bad 
omen, the soldiers sat and told their adventures, to while away 
the time before the bugle dispersed them. Some had seen 
service in Gaul, others in Spain, others among the Colchi 
and Tauri and others in Scythia. These were not Syrians, 
like the men of Florus^ army, but veterans from the West. 
What a swarthy, hard-muscled, heavily built set of men! Go 
to their barracks and you will see by his bunk each man^s ar- 
mor hanging, which he wore all day. It weighs at least fif- 
teen pounds. When on the march, moving at the rate of 
four miles an hour, each man carries besides this panoply, 
a spade, a pickax, a hatchet, a saw, a basket with provisions 
for three days; and when on a campaign, six stakes for a pali- 
sade; — all weighing, besides the armor, about sixty-five 
pounds. Time did not pass heavily on their hands in garrison 
for their daily drill was so exhausting as to keep them in- 
ured to heavy service. War was their business, — the spoils 
of war their reward. They were an irresistible, cold-blooded, 
relentless iron force, that fed on the provinces that sub- 
mitted to them; that grew rich on provinces that op- 
posed them; that shattered provinces that stubbornly 
defied them. They were fearless by training and necessity, 
for, if a cohort turned its back to the enemy, it was 
exiled or every tenth man was put to the sword after 
the battle, and at the next battle the remainder were 
placed in the forefront of the fight. Indomitable! They 
always conquered: always were sure of conquering. What 


20 


THE DYING LAMP; 


indeed was this little city of Jerusalem that it should hope to 
cast off such power? 

But Metellus' thoughts were not of war that night. He 
again opened the casket. There in the flickering light of his 
bronze lamp lay the brown lily; and he remembered the last 
tali that counted one, a six, and the other nothing. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


21 


CHAPTEK III. 

THE GENTLE VOICE OF MERCY. 

OHN, RachePs son, one morning shortly after the 
events jnst spoken of, was returning from a mis- 
sionary tour in which he had preached Jesus and 
the resurrection, through Syria, and was walking rapidly over 
the crest of Mt. Scopus, in full view of Jerusalem. He loved 
the City of Jerusalem; he loved her temple, her palaces, her 
homes, the hills on which she was securely huilded, even the 
ancient stones of her foundation, — memorials of David and 
Solomon and Ezra. After his long absence of four years, his 
heart hounded with joy, at the glorious sight that braced every 
tingling fibre of his body, and silent tears flooded his eyes. 
^^Oh my city, Jerusalem,” he murmured, ^^The joy of the 
whole earth.” History and prophecy, blended to shed a light 
from her sculptured architecture, as from a precious cameo- 
stone. As he moved on in rapture: ^^ever have I seen Jeru- 
salem more beautiful,” and his eyes swept over the green 
olive gardens, circling, the dazzling walls and towers and 
palaces. 

Suddenly without warning, as he moved with elastic pace, 
happy in the thought of his welcome home, the question came 
to him: ^^ut what will become of my beloved Jerusalem?” 
The involuntary response came as suddenly and unexpectedly 
as the question: Ht shall be trodden down.” The words he 
had heard so often in his childhood, in the church from the 
apostles and elders, leaped back into his mind, as after his 
long absence of hardship, he caught the first glimpse of his 
city. Turning from the thronged highway into a garden, he 



22 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


sat under an olive to rest and to relieve his depression, and 
as he sat long thus he prayed: ^^Father of our Lord Jesus, 
help me to save my people, whom I love; help me to open 
their blind eyes and subdue thou their hearts. For my own 
kin I pray, and for all thy people, that they may receive 
deliverance through Jesus Christ, thy son. Gird me with 
thy strength.^’ 

He rose at last, sober, yet joyful, and moved on with a 
sense of mighty things upon his soul. At his mother’s door 
there was a mother’s unspeakable welcome. To Rachel, her 
boy John was the earthly center of her life, — admirable, 
strong, to be depended on. And on his mother first, John’s 
fullness of love abode, — a love undivided, except by his sister. 

After his personal experiences were recounted; and he 
had told of the progress of the gospel; and his perils, his 
scourgings, and imprisonments, then his talk drifted toward 
the increasingly turbulent condition in the city and in the 
country at large. John felt it everywhere. Rachel emphasized 
the fact with accounts of affairs in Jerusalem, and then 
described the strong, overwhelming impressions that came to 
her a few nights before after the innocent prattle of their 
baby Paul. 

John mused awhile after the recital, and absently twirl- 
ing his fine, silken, black beard, said: ‘H^en the fig tree puts 
forth her leaves, then know that the summer is nigh.” 

That night J ohn lay long pondering over plans for help- 
ing in the work of the gospel in Jerusalem. Conscious of 
the apparently hopeless bigotry and hostility of his people, 
he prayed with flowing tears for wisdom and a fresh baptism 
of the Holy Spirit. Waking next morning, the dusk of twi- 
light still darkening the room, the tide of thoughts of the 
previous day renewed its movement in his breast and he lay 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


23 


and prayed; when, lo! a strange experience. Was it merely 
mental? A vision of the crucified and risen Lord stood before 
him. The gathered glory and ignominy of Christ beamed 
down upon him. A very real form seemed to stand over his 
bed, at the right side, and bended a countenance upon him 
full of sweet sadness and compassion. The gracious figure 
spread open his two pierced hands so that John could see the 
prints of the nails in them. ^^All this for thee. All this I 
endured for thee. There was no sound that made an echo, 
hut those were the slowly uttered, gentle words, just as real 
as if they had been spoken audibly. The room was dusky 
with shadows hut the Christ stood there before him as plainly 
as if real, — so sweet, so kind, so gentle; pleading, expressing 
in look and attitude, an unutterable love. The holy vision 
emained perfectly distinct many minutes. John gazed upon 
^t, his tears trickling fast away on either side of his face to 
the pillow, and he whispered to himself: 

^^Lord, I see thee. Yes, now my eye sees thee. I give 
my life to thee, oh Savior. My gift is nothing; but thy love 
for me, thy sacrifice on the shameful cross for me, melts my 
heart. I have from childhood heard about thee; I have medi- 
tated on thee; I have preached thee, oh Christ, hut now I 
see thee. Thou hast always been so as I see thee and always 
will he, but now I see thee for myself. Let me always keep 
thee in sight, thou sweet Savior of men! Loveliest vision that 
ever dawned upon mortal eyes. Oh how tender, yet how 
strong! Discerning all failings yet always compassionate; 
divinely just, yet loving unto death. Thou, oh Christ of God, 
thou didst die for me. Thou, even thou didst lay down thy 
priceless life for my poor life; yes for every noor child of 
man. 0 Christ, help me to tell the world about thee. I 
have tried to do a little; oh, Christ, possess me, strengthen me 


24 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


by living in me, that I may do more! May I love men, oh, 
that I may love men; help me that I may help them to love 
thee. At thy gentle feet I lay my life. Jesus! Savior!” 

So he breathed the nmitterable passion of his soul. The 
vision of that morning became a distinct and permanent force 
in all his subsequent life. 

The first house he visited that day was his sister Ruth^s. 
What a comfort he was to the hungry heart, — hungry for 
love. How little Paul jumped, and capered, and tumbled 
about in his delight. How he wriggled, and squirmed, and 
bubbled over with laughter as Uncle John tossed him up and 
down, and tickled his fat sides. Ruth dreaded to have her 
husband Elthemus come home, but at the dinner hour he 
stalked in and saluted John with the usual salaam; then 
brusquely: ^^Disciple, where hast thou been traveling?” and, 
barely waiting for an answer he turned to Ruth with a scowl: 
^WHiy is not dinner ready?” and moving uneasily abp^t 
went into the court of the house to wash his hands. At the 
table little Paul sat in his father’s lap but for some reason 
refused to eat. And while John told of his experiences in 
Syria, Elthemus was engrossed in the boy and ate in moody 
silence. After the meal he said to Ruth, ^^Something’s the 
matter with Paul; if he is not better when I come home 
to-night I’ll have a physician.” The little fellow seemed 
to somewhat recover himself after a time and at the evening 
hour John returned to his mother’s rooms. 

The next day both Rachel and John went over to see 
how the boy was, and were much alarmed at the change. A 
physician had been there and administered medicine but the 
child was no better. The father was at his bed-side. The 
child languidly cast his eyes at his grandmother and uncle. 

^TDoes my baby boy feel sick?” 






THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


25 


A slight nod of the head; thefT'a're^less turning of the 
face and touching the hot lips with the tongue. By night, 
the hoy’s face was glowing with fever. The physician came 
again and left potions of gall and saffron, and Eachel stayed 
and watched with the stricken family; hut John returned to 
the palace. Bor several days the fever continued and nightly 
watching and anxiety were wearing out both Ruth and 
Rachel. One night, weighed with sorrow and fatigue they 
both slept while Elthemus, and John, and the physician 
watched over the child. Between the second and third watch 
little Paul grew rapidly worse. With closed eyes the rest- 
less head rolled to one side and then to the other; hack and 
forth, hack and forth, ceaselessly. 

The doctor became alarmed: have one more remedy 

by God’s grace for such cases,” said he, 'This is my last; 
if this does not succor him we can hut submit to the will of 
the Almighty.” 

Elthemus was in agony. It was no use to call the women. 
Almost wildly he watched the doctor pour the potion down the 
unconscious throat. Elthemus grew pale as death, watching 
the result. "Oh, God of Abraham,” he breathed unconsciously 
as he bent over and lifted the convulsive form which now be- 
gan to moan and throw itself spasmodically. Softly handling 
the writhing, jerking frame he went out and walked on the 
flat roof. There under the cool, shining stars, with the slumber- 
ing city at his feet, he trod round and. round under the para- 
pet, and then back and forth, shifting the racked little frame 
into every conceivable posture of rest, while the night .air bore 
the child’s wild, ceaseless "Ough!”"Oughr’ to the roofs about. 
As the father walked back and forth listening to that heart 
rending cry, it seemed to him as if his heart would break. 
He thought not of his weary arms or tired feet. Almost to 


26 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


the cock crowing he bore the dying child thns alone. In all 
his life he had never passed through snch mental agony as in 
those dreadful five hours. ^^What was to he done?’^ The 
child was now plainly growing weaker; its strange strength 
was now passing away. ^Ts it possible my little Paul, my idol, 
is to die?’^ ^^Shall I ask John to pray and lay his hands upon 
him?” That would indeed be a humiliation; that would be 
an acknowledgment of the power and Messiahship of the 
hated ISTazarine. Dazed, he bore the burden down into the 
light. The doctor was asleep on the dais; John was pacing 
back and forth in silence. 

^^He is dying,” said Elthemus with a dry, hoarse voice. 
^^Ezra, Ezra, Ben Isaac!” John shook the sleeping physician 
who confusedly recovered himself, ^^Yea, Yea, it is the last 
but the blessing of Jehovah — Ah, I must have napped a mo- 
ment — Alas! No better? No better?” He arose and raised 
both hands as he looked at the child: ^^Who can resist His 
will? Friend Elthemus, do you see that brown patch on his 
head — ^back of his ear? A sure sign of the angel of death. 
I will call his mother.” 

Then the father broke down. “Stay! Stay!” he said; 
then, laying the now passive boy on the cot, he turned: “John, 
you believe the name of Jesus the — the — (the words came 
hardly) the Nazarine can cure the sick?” 

“Yes, brother, I have often laid hands on the sick in the 
name of the Son of Man, and recovered them.” 

“If you can do anything help us!” The father covered his 
weeping face as he looked at the death-like pallor, and closed 
eyes. 

“Let us kneel,” said John. 

They three bowed about the dying child. And John 
prayed: 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


27 


^Tather, we ask of thee the life of this darling boy. We 
submit to thy will for thou knowest best, but if it is thy 
will, for Jesus^ sake, who said ^Whatsoever ye shall ask in 
my name that will I do,’ and for his sake who is thine only 
begotten, our Savior, give to us the life of this dear boy. 
Amen.” 

They rose up. Confidently John took the child by the 
hand: ^Tn the name of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen 
Savior, I rebuke this disease.” 

The eyes of the child opened and looked naturally on 
the astonished physician and speechless father. The wild stare 
of the past five hours was gone; a soft smile came over the 
thin face. ^^My papa!” Then, looking around: ^^Where’s 
Mamma?” The brown spot was ffone> the flush of health 
began to flow in his cheeks. 

Elthemus bent and kissed his boy on his cool forehead 
again and again, and unable to control himself, hastened out 
of the room to the roof all alone. 

Eap, rap came on the door of the sleepers; awakened, 
instantly they sprang to their feet. When once in the room 
and John had greeted them with the words,” Christ has saved 
him;” all flashed upon their minds in a moment. Eachel sat 
down by the cot-side and wiped away the silent, flowing tears 
of thanksgiving. The mother in silent ecstacy lay with her 
lips against the cheek of the smiling, quiet boy, who languidly 
played with her tresses. 

It was not many days before little Paul was romping 
about the house, and court, and on the roof; and whenever 
uncle John came, nothing would satisfy the child till he had 
been tossed astraddle of the ready shoulders and been borne 
about, patting the white headcloth. The child’s bubbling, 
gurgling laughter especially took John by its sweet joyful- 


28 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


ness, and he was wont to seize the hoy ^^fore and aft” with his 
strong hands, and swing him high np on one side, and then 
on the other. The rippling laughter which rose to a half 
frightened, sucking sound of delight, as the little tunic 
almost grazed the ceiling, always brought forth mighty ex- 
plosions of deep-toned laughter from the Uncle while Ruth 
stood uneasily, saying by her forced smile: ^^ow be careful.” 
But when his puffing playmate placed him on his feet the 
enthusiastic legs and arms would clamber on him. "Thwing 
me more, uncle John. Won’t you thwing me some more?” 

Ever after that ever-to-be-remembered night, Elthemus 
was changed in behavior toward John and indeed toward ev- 
erybody. His manner, and words, and voice lost their harsh- 
ness. He was gentle again as of old to Ruth and kindly respect- 
ful to Rachel and John. John kept a perfect silence on the 
subject all the while uppermost in his heart, till one evening 
in the twilight when they were sitting on the housetop, Paul 
having fallen asleep in his father’s arms, John, looking down 
at him, said: ^^This darling boy was restored to us all by the 
power of the Lord Jesus.” 

Elthemus dropped his head and made no reply. 

^TVIy brother, I wish you understood Jesus as I have been 
permitted to, — not merely as the savior of the body but as 
the only Savior from sin and death. Jesus is the Messiah 
spoken of by all the prophets, — Isaiah, and David, and Dan- 
iel, and Moses. He it was who was wounded for our trans- 
gressions and bruised for our iniquities and by whose stripes 
we are healed. By his death, he as the Lamb of God, made 
atonement for your sins and mine, so that believing in him, 
we sinful men are accounted righteous by God. ^ly brother, 
what peace one has, who knows he is considered justihy the 
holy God! And, believing in Christ we are justified, — a glo- 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


29 


rious gospel; and more than that, believing in him we are 
saved, because Christ dwells in us as our life. It was his 
power going through me that saved your darling, and that 
same power is ready to save you and me every day, in every 
trial and temptation. We are weakness — he is strength, and 
will be our strength if we will receive him and take him as 
Savior and Lord. You know, Elthemus, you must yield your- 
self wholly, — ^body, and mind, and soul to him and then he 
will be your Savior. He has loved you with a love that passes 
knowledge and has given his precious life on the cross for 
you. Your love for Paul is nothing to Christas love for you. 
He who sits on the throne of the Almighty has died for you; 
and Elthemus, my dear brother, my heart’s desire and con- 
tinual prayer to God is that you may be the Lord’s and be 
saved.” 

The feelings of the careless man were touched by John’s 
sympathy. No one but Rachel had ever ventured to talk with 
him thus; and he said, know there are bad traits in me; I 
feel sometimes there is no use in trying to be better.” 

John spoke very earnestly: Jesus Christ is your strength; 
verily, apart from him you can do nothing. But simply take 
Jesus as your Savior for this present life and the life to come.” 

So, John put the truth; and Elthemus talked very 
frankly with him. At last John said: ^^You see the truth, now. 
Will you be his disciple, Elthemus?” 

The man turneid and looked on the darkening- roof as 
if he saw something, while the question came to his mind: 
“Will I be a hated disciple?” And he did see something 
which John did not see, and had no conception of as an 
obstacle to his decision: it was a bare dagger. Elthemus was 
looking into a secret council room and saw the secret con- 
clave of the Sicarii, and himself as a member of that ruthless, 


30 


THE DYING LAMP; 


dreaded body. Should he become a disciple of the ISTazarine, 
— a hated Christian, — ^these fierce, unscrupulous men would 
* become his avowed enemies, as long as he remained in Jeru- 
salem. 

The spirit of Cod had touched the man’s heart and if 
only this obstacle were out of the way he might honestly con- 
sider the question; but the danger and sacrifice were too great, 
he thought to himself. I 

John, seeing his pondering mood, at last broke the long 
pause: ^^We all are called to make some sacrifice; Christ 
says, Tf a man will be my disciple let him deny himself snd 
take up his cross and follow me.’ Christ said: ^Whosoe|ver 
will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his ^ife 
for my sake shall save it.’ ” j 

The barrier before Elthemus seemed to rise mountain 
high as John spoke the Savior’s words. “I will think about 
this,” he said, as he rose uneasily with his sleeping burden and 
led the way down into the house. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


31 


CHAPTEE ly. 

MANACLES AND SCOUEGE. 


LKANAH the father of Elthemus, had two other 
sons, Abner, the second, and Gad, the yonngest — 
a lad of seventeen years, and Elnle, an only daugh- 
ter. The mother of the family had been dead some years, 
leaving Elkanah to sigh over the children’s lack of a mother’s 
watchful care. Money was the goal of the old man’s life and to 
its p)ssession he had devoted every moment and every power, 
to tie utter neglect of his children’s training. Of course the 
temjle services were formally attended by him, and the rites 
of tie Passover celebrated in his house, and all the great 
festhals scrupulously observed; but his heart adored the 
weal'h which had abundantly flowed into his' hands through 
the nerchandise of his large Bazaar. For the further enlarge- 
ment of his business he had dispatched his second son, Abner, 
—an altogether manly, intelligent, and self-reliant young man 
(f twenty-eight years, to Eome, to sell his Persian fabrics and 
T) open permanent outlets for trade. Abner had succeeded 
n this enterprise, in his two years’ absence, to the great satis- 
faction of his father, and on his return to Jerusalem Elkanah 
had predicted for his son a great future as a merchant. 

On this particular morning, Elkanah was intimating in 
a cautious tone, and with a crafty use of his fore-flnger in his 
wrinkled, parchment-like palm, and by nods and confldential 
close approaches to two old rich men, intimate friends of his, 
that, ^Tf a wise policy prevails,” and if the city is but ^^con- 
tent to endure for a time at least, the inevitable,” and, 
we only abide our time,” in short, ^flf a quiet submission to 


32 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Kome for some years to come, be yielded by our nation, no 
merchant can foresee the wealth that will flow into the city/^ 
Of course, Elkanah saw some small rivulets coursing into his 
coffers. 

In the Bazaar, piled up as such bazaars were with bfles 
and adorned with hangings of silks and velvets and woolen 
stuffs, in attractive color, also stood Abner and two or taree 
young men. Abner is noble looking, straight as an aitow, 
broad-shouldered, and has a way of looking directly iij the 
eye of his interlocutor. His movements are quick and impul- 
sive, and his general bearing might strike one as probd or 
haughty. His father’s neglect had thrown him amonJ the 
young bloods of Jerusalem, and two years ago he had bre^hed 
into them a bitter hostility to Eome. He had said no|hing 
to 'his father since^his return from the Eternal City, pout 
his impressions gained abroad. Long ago it was settled that 
they were at swords points on political questions. But g end- 
ing there in the midst of those rich textures he had ciught 
unintentionally, one or two of his father’s cautious remptrls, 
and turning away as from an unpleasant subject he looki 
out on the street Just as several centuries of Koman soldiei 
in full armor, headed by Metellus, tramped through the mai 
, ket place, Ailing the pent up thoroughfare with a washing 
sea-like sound from their clinking armor and hob-nail sani 
dais. Abner’s face flushed and his handsome eyes shot oul| 
indignation as the legionaries marched by; and to the litth 
knot of young men about him he burst out: 

‘^1 would like to know how long w are to bear such| 
sights. Shall the Jews quietly sit and let these heathen dogs 
rule over us?” 

^Ht’s an outrage,” said one of the young men. 

^T)o you know by whom we are ruled?” asked Abner. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


33 


‘‘Men call him Caesar, Emperor' Nero, I dare to say he is a 
brute, a demon. You have not seen what I have seen these 
past months. I say I will no more submit to the accursed 
wretch who sits on the throne of Eome, than I will bow to 
the stone idols of himself I have seen there. I know some- 
thing about him, enough at least, to make me hate the name 
of Eome and Emperor. It’s nothing, that he is a common 
clown in a theatre; that he drives as a charioteer in the hip- 
podrome; that he spends his days in gluttony like a swine, and 
his nights in unspeakable debauchery.” This was spoken in a 
clear, intense voice that reached some distance. 

“Abner! Abner! my son!” The father was approaching 
with a warning gesture and beseeching tone. “My son, you 
know we are liable to be called to account for such hot words. 
You must remember one may not speak evil of the rulers of 
his people.” 

“Eulers!” Abner turned with an almost contemptuous 
scorn on this grey-haired parent and spoke still louder. 
“Eulers!” “My father, you know money alone makes us bow 
to Eome. I cannot understand it!” With a high impatience 
he strode out of the bazaar as if to get breathing room. “What 
is it?” “What has happened?” asked this one and that one, 
on the outer edge of the circle that had gathered. The 
crowd was rapidly growing larger. . 

“What were his tidings?” eagerly asked the new- 
comers, some of whom knew him and had come to greet him 
on his return. 

“Some news about Caesar,” was the answer, “He says 
Caesar has become a jester in theatres and lives among swine.” 

As they moved along down the market place strangers 
asked: “Who is this young man?” and others answered: “This 
is Abner Ben Elkanah, just come from Eome.” 


34 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


^^What said you about Caesar?” Voices were raised and 
shouted over the heads of the buzzing crowd. ^^What news 
about Caesar?” 

^^Let us stand by the gate, Gennath,” shouted back Ab- 
ner, making down the market place toward an archway in 
the wall that separated Acra from Mt. Zion. Immediately the 
gathering crowd moved by curiosity were swarming toward 
the gate. Mounting a broad, hewn pediment at the spring 
of the arch, Abner faced an expectant, excited throng of men, 
mostly young men. It was a moment he had long desired 
while absent at Eome. His fire of patriotism originally fierce 
had been kindled seven times fiercer by his visit, and now had 
come his oft wished for opportunity. He stood some moments 
looking down, unable to proceed because of the jargon of 
voices; at last the waving of his hand won silence. The 
erect, manly figure clad in a striped red and white robe, crim- 
son girdle and white headcloth, stood out clearly in the sun- 
light against the grey stone masonry of the wall, and his 
presence made them give attention to his words. 

^^Men of Israel, some of you know that I have but just 
returned from the City of Eome. The tidings I bring are, 
that if you could see what my eye has seen and know what I 
know, you would rise as one man, this very day, and cast off 
the tyranny of a monster of crime, to whom you now bow 
and pay ignoble tribute.” 

A voice, ^^We have no king but Jehovah!” Other voices, 
'^Ho tribute to Caesar! Ho more tribute to Caesar!” 

Away down the market place, across the sun blazing 
pavement, nervously, restlessly, paced Elkanah, pondering 
and shaking his turbaned head: lose more than I gain. 

Ho one could have guessed I should pay this price.” 

Abner caught up the words of clamor about him. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


35 


'^Brethren of the house of Abraham, sufferers all in a com- 
mon hard bondage, if you are men indeed, you will do more 
than shout: “No more tribute.” 

Instantly the air was filled with a wild chaos of approba- 
tion. 

“You do not know the measure of your shame. You only 
know you are ground under the heel of those legions who 
tread down this, our Holy City. But the power above them 
makes this grinding unbearable. It is the despotism of the 
most hideous monster of crime that the earth permits to live.” 
A hum of awe passed over the crowd. “You have heard 
something of him. You have not heard a tithe nor a thou- 
sandth part of the real facts. Shall I recount to you a few 
of the deeds of his vile life?” 

^TTea! Yea!” came the responses from the throng as 
they pressed nearer. “Let us hear the truth.” “The Al- 
mighty God is our King.” 

“This Caesar had a mother; true she was a base, inces- 
tuous woman, but, his mother. He seeks to drown her in one 
of the bays of Italy by a carefully planned artifice, and under 
the cover of festivity; but when that murderous scheme fails 
and she swims ashore, into her private chamber he dispatches 
his body guard who stab to the death the uncovered body that 
once carried this creature. This Nero had a brother (they say 
he was a gentle lad) who had reached seventeen summers. 
To prevent any possible claims to the throne by him, Nero 
invites this youth to a banquet and has noisoned food served 
him; and while the child dies the feast goes on. This Nero 
had a wife; God made her a noble, true and beautiful woman, 
but to satisfy his lust, this Nero puts her away on the charge 
of infidelity. He compels her by fiendish tortures and on 
pain of death to confess to a crime of which she was not 


36 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


guilty, that he may take another. Is it sufficient that she is 
banished to some lonely place? By no means. She must die; 
this noble Octavia: and vile slaves are instructed to bind her 
with cords and open her veins that the earth may drink her 
pure blood. It is with a sense of shame that I speak of one 
who is of us, in that she is a proselyte to our faith: Poppea, 
the most beautiful woman in Eame; Nero now takes her to 
wife; (you may see her face with Nero’s on the coins we han- 
dle) but, mark his treatment of her. In a moment of brutal 
passion he deals her a kick which takes both her life and 
the life of her child. Afterward he sets up her image to be 
worshiped. This wretch had a friend, — strange as it may 
seem, — the aged Seneca, a wise instructor of his youth, who 
counseled him when others fawned on him. On a mere sus- 
picion of treachery, he quietly sends him word by his guard 
that Seneca must die; but Seneca, the aged friend and teacher, 
may have one gracious boon; he may choose his own form 
of death. The poor man opens his own veins with a dagger. 
Was it not so with his next best counselor, Thrasia, a man 
of unbending virtue, — one of the noble men of earth, though 
he were a Eoman. He gets word one bright morning that 
Caesar grants him the choice of the manner of his death. 
He, too, dies with untold agony as the life-blood slowly oozes 
from his veins which his own hand had opened. 

^^Shall I go on with the long list? Do not I know 
that the whole body of illustrious Eoman citizens has thus 
been blotted out from life by that bloody tyrant, as a man 
blots out a waxen tablet? You all have heard of the burning 
of the City of Eome. You have heard how this great 
Caesar looked down on the flames as he played his lyre. But 
you do not know, as I have every reason for knowing, that 
the beautiful proselyte for whom he murdered his wife. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


37 


shielded the heads of our people at Eome when this tyrant 
attempted to turn the blame* of that fire from himself. It 
was the Christians that he pounced upon, wrapping them 
to tall poles in clothes soaked with tar, and burning them 
in his royal gardens which were thus lighted with human 
torches. It was the Christians that he sewed up in skins, 
and threw to the wild beasts, till Rome itself sickened at 
the sight. But mark you, men of Israel, but for the favoring 
providence of God through a beautiful proselyte, as at the 
time of Xerxes and Esther, the Jews would have been 
served in just this way in garden and amphitheater. What 
Esther was in Babylon Poppea was in Rome. 

^^Shall any man speak of his unspeakable bestiality? It is 
not permitted to mention in private the things he does 
openly before the eyes of the sun. Shall we submit to such 
a ruler?” A clamor of voices and a wild tossing of arms 
in the air and beating toward the sky with clenched fists, 
and grinding of teeth was the fierce response. ^The time 
was when the Almighty was Israel’s ruler; Oh, how the 
race of Israel has sunken from that supreme point.” 

^^God forbid!” some one cried out, and the words were 
taken up and shouted in chorus by the far-reaching throng. 

^^our say, ^God forbid,’ ” said Abner, ^l3ut will you, also, 
forbid a longer degradation? Did not Gideon ^ay ^The sword 
of the Lord and of Gideon?’ Will you not come up to the 
help of the Lord against the mighty? Well did the prophet 
curse Meroz. Xow is the time to strike off our bondage as 
others are doing. Wlien I was in Rome did I not hear on 
all sides the murmurings of general discontent and revolt? 
In some’ cities, the statues of this Xero are being 
publicly thrown down by the soldiers and broken in pieces. 
Are not these times spoken of by the prophets, when a 


38 


THE DYING LAMP; 


deliverer shall lead forth our own Israel to honor and 
dominion?” 

^TTea, yea,” shouted the crowd, ^^it is the will of God.” 

^T^ndeed it is the will of our God,” cried Abner with 
enthusiasm. ^^Do not the Eahhis teach that the promised de- 
liverer shall arise out of Zion now?” 

^^Yea, yea,” they yelled, patriotism rising almost to a 
frenzy. 

^Then Gentiles shall come to our light and kings to 
the brightness of our rising. Do not the prophets declare 
that the sons of strangers shall build thy walls and kings 
shall minister unto thee? Does not the scripture say: ^The 
kingdom that shall not serve thee shall perish, yea, shall be 
utterly wasted.’” 

The speaker had been frequently interrupted by pas- 
sionate ejaculations and responses, but he foresaw a final 
interruption. Dp the market place, a company of aged men, 
among whom was his father, was moving toward the throng. 
Swiftly Abner hastened to clinch his impression on his au- 
ditors by these quotations from their Holy Scriptures, ere 
the influence of the eminent men could disperse the crowd. 
But as they came up a strong voice was heard shouting above 
the din: 

^^Sons of Israel, we are liable to be called in question 
for the tumult of this day. Let each man now quietly 
seek his own dwelling. We do not know what penalty we 
must pay should these things come to the governor’s ears.” 

• Abner saw that any further words would be of no avail, 
and to his immediate friends who gathered about him as the 
crowd dispersed, he said determinedly, ^^As for me, let the 
penalty fall. I care not what they do, but Jerusalem can 
not longer brook this tyranny. The time is now come for 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


39 


action/^ With a score or more of young men, many of them 
of the priesthood and others from eminent families in the 
city, he walked to the temple and there held counsel with 
a multitude of others who joined them, all fired with the 
same restless, fiery, patriotic spirit. 

The aged wealthy men gathered under the awnings of 
the Bazaars, and bitterly deplored these increasingly frequent 
bursts of political excitement, over which they could only 
shake their heads and prophesy, if they continued, certain 
and dire calamity to the city. 


40 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTEE V. 

THE SECEET OKDEE. 

IGHT had quieted the turbulent, seething City of 
Jerusalem. Shadows cover and darken the cloisters 
of the immense temple. The gates long ago had been 
shut and bolted; and many good worshipers at home are 
supplicating with earnest hearts the care of Jehovah for 
their beloved City of Jerusalem. At one of the outer gates 
of the temple a sudden sharp knocking is heard, and in- 
stantly the great valves open and receive a little handful 
of men who give a signal or password to the porter, and are 
immediately received by a larger waiting band of men, who 
escort them across the temple area, to one of the doors in 
the tower of the treasuiy. Waiting at that door, the leader 
gives a knock; a great key clanks; the door swings open, 
and when the band has entered, the door is carefully re- 
locked. The little handful that were received at the outer 
gate, are all blindfolded by a couple of deputies and led 
into a large, bare room, where, on either side, is standing 
a row of silent men, with their leader. This silent band 
is a division of the secret order of the Sicarii or Dagger 
men, — political assassins. They are the extreme expression 
of that democratic fervor that, spreading from the peaceable 
Pharisees, grew into a great body called zealots or patriots. 
This terrible offshoot called ^^The Sicarii” became a potent 
factor in the disturbances that preceded and caused the de- 
struction of Jerusalem. They are patriotic desperadoes, who, 
writhing under the shame and burden of the Eoman op- 
pression, have organized to deliver their nation by the dag- 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


41 


ger. While the hand contains the worst villains, it also 
numbers good, true men, like Eleazer, the priest. At a 
signal, each blindfolded candidate is led to the front before 
the chief, by a member of the order, and all are left stand- 
ing there in a row, blindfolded. Notice the surroundings 
of the men. The room is well lighted and everything stands 
out plainly. There is no drapery except curtains. The men 
wear no regalia. There are no masks. The men of the 
order, in their every day dress, stand shoulder to shoulder 
on either side of the room. Every man’s hand acting in 
concert with the leader, now grasps the hilt of his dagger 
which lies concealed in his girdle. Many of the men have 
hard, fierce, determined faces. They look capable of almost 
any deed of violence, but there are noble faces among them. 
Before the chief is a table on which lies a board of soft 
wood bristling with a half a dozen gleaming poniards stuck 
into it. In front of the table and immediately before the 
six candidates is a large chest, with lid turned back to 
reveal its contents to them the moment their eyes are anband- 
aged. The chief uses no roll from which to read, nor any ritual 
of initiation. A piece of parchment and a reed pen lie on 
the table before him with the standing poniards, but 
there is no ink horn. With his hand on the hilt of 
his dagger he addresses the brotherhood, while every eye is 
turned toward him and every right hand grasps its dag- 
ger. 

'brethren of Israel, we meet again in our counsel room 
to receive into our secret circle these six men.” (He re- 
peats their names.) ^The name of this secret order is — 
he pauses a second — a deep, muffled response bursts from 
the two rows, — ^^We are the most secret order of Sicarii.” 
The leader takes up the word: 


42 


THE DYING LAMP; 


^‘'Sicarii, brothers of the dagger, in whose name are we 
organized?” 

Again a simultaneous muffled roar: are banded in 

the name of the Almighty.” ^ 

The leader: ^^Brethren of the dagger standing in the 
name of the Almighty, of Him whose name is unutterable, 
and acting on his behalf, we have sworn our most solemn 
oath to what end?” 

The response was like the deep bass of the sea: ^^Our 
object is to deliver the Jewish nation from the tyranny of 
Borne.” 

The leader now addresses the blindfolded candidates: 
^^Brethren, candidates for admission to our most secret and 
powerful order; you have heard our name and learned the 
sole reason for our existence. Our motive is patriotism. 
We fight with one weapon, a powerful foe that is destroying 
us with many weapons. We act secretly, the better to ac- 
complish our purpose. Our motto is: T)eath to all stumbling 
blocks.’ If we use milder measures they are to inspire terror 
in the heart .of treason. When we use the dagger, neces- 
sity demands the removal of the stumbling block to our na- 
tional independence. 

^Torty years ago, Judas of Gamala, a most noble soul, 
moved by a divinely inspired patriotism, conceived this course 
of action and gathered about him true hearts of like pur- 
pose. He was a man of deeds, not words; catching his 
spirit, a vast multitude of men clave unto him, ready to 
act even to the death for our beloved and God-given land 
But neither he nor they saw of the travail of their souls. 
The Almighty has decreed in his wisdom, that only through 
suffering shall the priceless boon of liberty be gained. It 
was so in Gideon’s time, it always will be so. The Mac- 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


43 


cabees, our illustrious predecessors found it so, and they 
were always men of action. But the spirit of these men lives 
to-day. Yea, it has grown hotter and blazed forth more 
fiercely with each discomfiture and failure. Our hope is set 
on the promised deliverer. The day is not far distant, ac- 
cording to the sacred prophecy, when the Messiah will ap- 
pear and those who live and have stood for national de- 
liverance shall win peculiar honor. Let this hope sustain 
every breast. Prophecy assures us that we are on the eve, 
not only of a mighty revolution, but a mightier deliverance. 
The prophets, according to the teachings of holy rabbis, point 
to the speedy advent of one who will usher in a new day 
and work out a great salvation for his people, therefore, I 
exhort you all to be of one resolute mind; consecrate your- 
selves and the weapons we shall give you. Be ready to 
take upon yourselves the most solemn vows. Are you willing 
to do so?” 

The united answer of the blindfolded men was: ^Tn 
the name of the Almighty, we are ready.” 

‘■^Brethren of the Dagger, we are about to receive into 
our powerful and secret band, men whose hearts have lon^ 
been with us; the temper of whose courage is like the temper 
of our weapons, and who now voluntarily take a step irrevoca- 
ble except by death.” Again he addressed the blindfolded: 'T 
now will rehearse our principles. We acknowledge God as 
our only King, and denounce Caesar as an earthly tyrant, 
and also denounce as impious, any Israelite who willingly 
bows to Eome, or acknowledges the sovereign power of 
Caesar; and we rightly regard such, our enemy, whom we 
may justly destroy. 

^Ve pledge ourselves to pay tribute only to our own 
authorities, appointed of Israel for the support of the He- 


44 


THE DYING LAMP; 


brew Theocracy, or the service of the Holy Temple, or for 
the common welfare of Israel. Any person who pays tribute 
to Caesar is guilty of treason and justly worthy of death. 

^^e are bound by the laws of Moses and the tradition 
of the Elders of Israel; these are our rightful laws and who- 
ever acknowledges Gentile laws as authoritative, is guilty of 
treason and may justly be cut off from God’s people. 

^^e stand for Jewish nationality and aim to be a terror 
to every Jewish sympathizer of Eome. We strike at Eome’s 
tyranny through the hearts of our own countrymen. If a 
father, or a brother, or a son, or one joined to us by the tie 
of marriage, or a bosom friend stands in the way of the 
overthrow of this impious tyranny, we solemnly promise in 
the name of God, to put aside all natural feelings and all 
fear, and if we are chosen to the task, to smite even a 
father or brother to the death; our eyes shall not pity, neither 
shall we spare, neither shall we conceal him. 

^^The officers will now remove the bandages.” At that 
instant six men instantly removed the coverings from the 
eyes of the candidates and they saw the six daggers gleaming 
before them, and, being suddenly whirled about they saw all 
around the room a shining row of glittering blades held alo 
as if each hand were about to drive the steel to the heart 
of its owner. At the signal these were instantly and silently 
sheathed in their girdles. The candidates again faced the 
leader who stepped forward by the open chest and drew 
from it a heavy, clanking chain and manacles, and holding 
them up said, as he repeated each man’s name, — '^ou swear 
that though threatened with such bonds, you will never 
acknowledge Caesar, or pay tribute, or give allegiance to any 
but Israel’s law.” Each man separately swore. Then taking 
heavy iron nippers used in extorting confessions from ac- 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


45 


cused persons, he said: ^‘Though yon be tortured by having 
your flesh torn from your bones, piece by piece, you will 
never acknowledge Caesar, nor pay tribute, nor give allegiance 
to any but Israel’s law.” Again each swore separately. Then 
taking iron spikes for burning out eyes, and other horrible 
instruments till he had emptied the chest, he swore each 
man on each instrument of cruelty. He again addressed 
each man of the band: ‘^You now swear by HIM whose 
name is unutterable, that you will obey the will of the 
Sicarii, doing their bidding without fear, even to death; and 
if you break these vows, you do solemnly invoke upon you 
all these pains, miseries and tortures here represented.” This 
was sworn to separately. “There now remain but two things 
to be done. First, to make upon you the sign of your 
order, and second, to invest you with its symbol and instru- 
ment.” 

He turned to the table on which stood the row of dag- 
gers and plucldng one, he approached the first man: “I will 
now make upon you the only sign of our order. It is a cut 
upon the left breast: you see its scar upon us all.” Instantly 
the mantles and tunics of a hundred men were thrown back, 
revealing on the bare breast of each a horizontal scar. “You 
will bare your breast.” With a quick motion of the keen 
point a gash was cut and the scarcely soiled dagger handed 
to the initiated. “This is yours for God’s service and Israel’s 
redemption.” This he did with each man, the blood running 
down upon their clothes; then turning to the parchment and 
reed pen: “Here is a pen and you will subscribe your 
names in your own blood in the presence of these witnesses, 
binding yourself to obey the will of this brotherhood of 
Sicarii on pain of death, till death shall loose you from 
the bond.” This deed was done by each man, each taking his 


48 


THE DYING LAMP; 


A case of a wealthy merchant who had been overheard 
expressing a desire for a continuance of Eoman rule was 
brought up and men appointed to mark his conversation 
and report at the next meeting. 

Reports were heard from members of the brotherhood 
who lived in the north country that their numbers were 
increasing; traitors were being warned and examples had 
been made the last week in Jotipates and Gadara, of two 
men who had become Romanizers. 

After this, at the close of their conference they all 
stood, and, with daggers at arm’s length pointing throat- 
ward, they repeated in concert: ^^We pledge ourselves to 
God, to Israel, to Moses’ law, and to the temple.” Out into 
the dark court of the temple they filed and saw burning on 
the sacred altar the glowing embers of perpetual fire, — to 
the sincere spirits among them, a fit symbol of the patriotism 
which ought to glow in every Hebrew breast. The silent 
porters swung open the mighty leaves and quietly the strange 
and dreaded band passed out, — ^Elthemus to his home. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


49 


CHAPTER VI. 

GOD’S REMEDY. 

NE day while these events were transpiring, John, 
half reclining, sat on the divan in his mother’s 
room resting his head on his palm, lost in thought. 
Rachel had been moving about at her work in silence. At 
last John stirred from his reverie: “In all my life I never 
saw such heated feelings and such restlessness as I see now. 
I have seen some measure of this spirit, — some of the same 
hatred and bitterness against Rome in Syria, and wherever 
I go, but here it reaches a fever heat. I fear some outbreak 
is at hand. To my mind the Jews are utterly blinded and 
do not realize the absolutely irresistible power of Rome. If 
they should go outside of the country, even for so short a 
time as I have been, they would see plainly enough that Rome 
is so vast that she has only to lay her iron hand on this 
city and it is crushed in a moment.” 

“I suppose,” said Rachel, “I am wonted to the feeling 
that has been growing little by little, but long ago I said 
to myself, perhaps I shall live to see the end; and the im- 
pression has been very strong of late. As I was telling you 
when you returned, we are living in the last times.” 

“Very true, and my heart often cries out. Lord, is there 
nothing I can do? Is the door of mercy quite closed? Can- 
not something be done to save the city?” 

“To save the city?” Rachel paused and sadly shook her 
head. She was now seated, and wrought at her needle work. 
“I fear that for the city the day of repentance has passed.” 

John sighed with a deep, unutterable feeling, and then 



60 


THE DYING LAMP; 


after a while: ^^Mother, I can hardly endure to think that 
this our city is doomed. My heart’s desire and prayer to 
God daily for my kindred and for all my people is that 
they may he saved. Cannot the pierced hands of Christ save 
the city?” These last John uttered with uplifted face as 
if appealing to Christ himself. 

“Yes, yes, indeed,” responded his mother. “If our 
kindred and brethren will accept him. I believe in all truth, 
that if Jerusalem should this day receive Jesus as her Mes- 
siah, she would not he destroyed; hut her people rejected 
him once, and still reject him in spite of every evidence. 
You know the Savior said, Tf they hear not Moses and 
the prophets they will not he persuaded tho’ one rose from 
the dea;d;’ and when he rose they evaded the fact; and when 
the Holy Spirit came with power on the disciples in the 
presence of all Jerusalem they only scoffed and threatened; 
and when divine power was signally shown in marvelous 
miracles wrought in Christ’s name in the city and through 
all the country, still they stubbornly resisted. I know of 
no power that can move such deliberate stubbornness. 
Stephen was right. They are stiff-necked and uncircumcised 
in heart and ears. They always resist the Holy Ghost.” 

“I suppose,” said John, “our only course is, quietly 
m our churches to preach the truth of the cross.” 

“Simply that,” said Eachel, “opposition will only make 
them more headstrong. Already they know the truth but 
they will not understand it.” 

^TJother,” said John gravely, “I pray that I may he 
willing to do anything the Master would have me do.” 

“You need not tell me that, my son; I know you have 
already braved many dangers and suffered many things for 
the Gospel’s sake.” 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


51 


^^When I hear talkers hotly advising this course and 
that, in opposition to Eome, I feel (I know it is not the 
right feeling) bnt, when I see them gathering together and 
talking so proudly and boldly and hear their yells and 
tnmnlts, I feel almost a contempt for them. I long to 
stand on the very wall of the temple and proclaim aloud 
to them that one power alone will save Jerusalem, and that 
is the power of the Prince of Life, whom they crucified.” 

^^But it would do no more good than the cry of Ben 
Ananus and no one minds him now;” and Eachel glanced 
at the fellow sitting quietly as was his wont, on his stool 
against the wall. “No one minds him but the boys.” 

At this, Ben Ananus, who seemed to be gazing into 
vacancy, arose and lifted up his hands and face just ready 
to pour out his wail. “Ben Ananu^, Ben Ananus,” said 
Eachel firmly but gently, “sit down, sit down, Ben Ananus!” 
EacheFs voice was the only one in the city that he heeded; 
and, drawing his breath with a convulsive sob he dropped 
his arms and relapsed. All this was so common an occur- 
rance that it passed unnoticed; and John sat swinging his 
free foot, back and forth, over the edge of the divan and 
said: “Mother, I despise a man that trims his words to 
please the ears of people. How grand to stand out fear- 
lessly and say: ^Thus saith the Lord’ as Jeremiah did; he 
told the people plainly the city would be destroyed unless 
the King yielded to Nebuchadnezzar. They called him traitor 
and threw h im into a well and shut him in a dungeon, but 
he never flinched for a single moment. I call that heroism. 
If this city is to be destroyed soon, if the danger is near 
I wish God would so speak his word to me, for my Savior’s 
sake I would speak it to the people.” 

“I know you would, my son, but God doesn’t command 


62 


THE DYING LAMP; 


US to say that the city shall be destroyed now. We believe 
it; we believe the prophecy of Daniel and the prophecy of 
our Lord are about to be fulfilled; but the time and seasons 
are not revealed to us.'^^ 

^^But if the Jews could only see the signs of the times! 
Ought I not to tell them, since I myself see them so plainly? 
I do admire an outspoken, straight-forward, sincere message 
and messenger. Mother, I have no patience with those 
Christian teachers who cover up part of the truth for policy’s 
sake. I have met brethren here in Jerusalem who preach 
that Jesus is the Messiah; but they add, that to be saved 
it is necessary to be circumcised. But that is not so; that 
is not the Gospel. If we believe in Christ we are accepted 
simply and wholly for Christ’s sake. This is the plain, hon- 
est truth and let us speak it out plainly and boldly. But 
these men say: ^We ought to make a distinction between 
God’s favored people and the Gentiles,’ but I never do. 
The glorious Gospel is: we all, everybody, anybody, is saved 
by faith alone. They say: ^The Jews will more willingly 
acknowledge Jesus if we make some concessions, and preach 
that men must first become Jews, and then, believing in 
Christ, they will be saved.’ Now, I say, that is cowardice; 
that is not loyalty to the son of God, by whom alone we are 
saved. They say: ^Of course Christ is the Savior; but a 
wise policy will yield to the prejudices of our people who 
do not wish to admit Gentiles to full salvation unless they 
are circumcised, and so the Jews will more readily be added 
to the church.’ I say, Jews or no Jews, we ought to speak 
the simple truth and put it exactly as it is.” 

^^ut,” said Eachel, ‘^a minister of the Gospel of Christ 
needs love, as much as truth, perhaps more. All are not 
gifted with as clear a moral eye as you, my son; they do 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


53 


not see ^immediately into spiritual things. I too, within 
the past few years have met these very preachers; and I 
pray for snch, that the Lord will grant to them discern- 
ment and conrage.’^ 

am glad the Apostle Paul met Peter face to face at 
Antioch on this point and told him he was in the wrong.” 

'^So am I, my son; truth needs to be spoken plainly, 
but deep-rooted prejudices should be met with great tender- 
ness and a kindly statement of the trnth. We must first of 
all, be mightily filled with the Holy Spirit.” 

^‘’Aye, aye. Mother.” 

^^One can be very conciliatory,” continued Eachel, '^and 
at the same time be nnswerving. Ho one could have been 
more conciliatory or more trne, than James the Jnst, — 
brother of onr Lord. Yon know how peaceable, how gentle 
he was, how beloved he was by all men, yet how strong 
was his last testimony, — the testimony for which he was 
stoned. When the Eulers asked him about Jesus, whether 
he was the son of Grod, he answered: W7hy do you ask 
me about Jesus, the son of God; he sits at the right hand 
of great power and will come on the clouds of heaven.’* 
For this they stoned him.” 

Hndeed, at the last he proved himself a hero,” said John, 
^^and I have often asked myself, ought I not to repeat the 
Savior’s message tp this city, whether they will hear or wheth- 
er they will forbear.” 

^^They know the Savior’s message already and as to the 
time, we cannot plainly declare it. Not for a moment would 
I have you flinch from your duty through fear. The only 
question is how can we do the greatest amount of good. I 
know there are two kinds of ministers of the Gospel; policy 
^Quoted in Lorimer’s People’is Bible History page 788. 


54 


THE DYING LAMP; 


men, self-seeking, who do not prophesy right things, but 
smooth things, and deceit, to please the people, (and surely 
such men-pleasers are a dishonor to the Lord) then there 
are others, sincere, devoted men. But I have noticed of 
this last class, some are long-suffering, compassionate, and 
many others are severe, — ^they tell the truth without feeling, 
without pity.” 

suppose you think. Mother, I belong to the severe 
kind;” said John with a twinkle in his eye as he peered 
up at her. 

would have you none the less fearless but some- 
times I ask myself if some fearless ministers of Christ do 
not love truth, more than people. hTow, James the Just 
seemed to have a personal sympathy for men and women 
with all his sanctity. A warm, kindly feeling filled all 
the truth he spoke, as fire fills iron and glorifies it. We 
felt the love and saw the truth. Some who could not un- 
derstand the truth whose eyes were not open, yet got the 
richer part, — they felt the love.” 

know what you mean, my Mother; just there is 
my real battle ground. I know it. I fully realize it. I 
do adore the Savior; I hold his words as the very apple 
of my eye; I think I could die for the truth’s sake, — 
but this personal sympathy for people, I lack. You ad- 
mire the Apostle, James the Just. Ah, Mother, could you 
have known the Apostle Paul as I have had the chance 
to know him! He saw things more clearly than even 
James; more clearly than any man I ever met, but I never 
beheld such gentleness, and tenderness, and compassion in 
mortal man. Why, the man spoke as if his heart was melted; 
and it was melted. He loved people, — all kinds of people, 
— Jews and Gentiles very, very tenderly. But it seems to 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


55 


me as if I never can be like bim. I see my lack; I know 
what I need and I supplicate Christ to melt my unfeeling 
heart/^ 

Eachel brushed away a tear as she continued looking 
at her work: ^^There is one word, I think, that a min- 
ister of the Gospel needs to hear sounding always in his 
soul and that is the word ^^Mercy/^ Christ has 
shown us mercy, we should feel mercy for others. Mercy, 
pity, yes, a great, deep pity for every poor child of God; 
an infinite compassion, I think, a minister of Christ should 
feel while he speaks the truth.” 

know it. I used to think that force and fire were 
shown in great directness and plainness of speech and shaking 
the truth at the people, — ^but I have learned to see dif- 
ferently.” 

^^There is no mightier force in a minister or in any- 
body, than love; nothing that so quickly convinces the hearer 
as a real Christlike, warm, compassionate spirit; a tender- 
ness for people^s faults and sins; a thinking more about 
the personality of his hearers than about his own line of 
thought. I feel the presence of this instantly in some min- 
isters and the lack of it instantly in others; their words 
seem dead. Truth without the love-life has little power.” 

know. Mother, you do not say this to save me from 
persecution. Persecution or no persecution, I know yours 
is the right way.” 

‘Tersecution may come to the very kindest and gentlest, 
as to the Apostles James and Paul, but I have learned that 
the best way, — ^the surest way, and, indeed, the only right 
way to spread the truth of our blessed Savior, is to permeate 
our teaching about him, with the same unspeakable love 
he showed.” John nodded his head in assent. ^"Verily, 


56 


THE DYING LAMP; 


the truth of Christ without the spirit of Christ is not the 
true Gospel; it’s not the living Gospel, hut a dry, dead 
Gospel. God give me his gracious Spirit to preach the liv- 
ing Gospel of Jesus Christ.” 

Into the ceaseless activities which John entered with 
his Christian brethren in the church and temple, he carried 
this thought: ^^The truth of Christ with the spirit of 
Christ is the only living Gospel.” 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


57 


CHAPTER YIL 
TWO SCENES. 

SMALL band of Roman soldiers has just been ad- 
mitted into the fortress of Antonia, bearing from 
the City of Caesarea a message from the Procurator 
Florus to the commander. Metellus meets them and grace- 
fully receives the salutation from the officer of the delega- 
tion who says: have a message from the Honorable Pro- 

curator Gessius Florus to the worthy commander, Marius 
Metellus,” handing him the missive. Metellus expresses the 
hope that their master is in good health and hastily un- 
binds and opens the letter. It is a wooden tablet, rectangular 
in shape, with three leaves. Both sides of the central 

leaf and the two inner sides of the covers are 
coated with a thin layer of wax, on which, with a 
sharp iron stylus, has been scratched an order. ^^By Pluto!” 
exclaimed Metellus, with a significant shrug of his shoulders, 
speaking to himself; then closing the tablet he bade the mes- 
sengers to the mess room. H think,” he said to himself 
as he walked away to execute the order of the Procurator, 
^Vhen the old bird finds her nest being robbed of its golden 
eggs she will ruffle her feathers.” 

An officer was forthwith despatched to the palace of the 
High Priest Ananias, calling a council of the Sanhedrim on 
the morrow at the third hour. Consternation was on the 
faces of the Chief Priests and Elders. What could be the 
significance of such a summons? A hundred conjectures and 
forebodings were passed from mouth to mouth. At the ap- 
pointed hour, however, Metellus with a band of soldiers 



58 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


and the body of the delegation, appeared before the solemn 
and apprehensive council of dignitaries. 

Metellus read the order demanding immediately in the 
name of Caesar, the payment of seventeen talents of gold 
($400,000) out of the temple treasury, to the bearers of the or- 
der.* It was to no purpose that the High Priest rose and rent 
his mantle with a solemn appeal to God, or that the San- 
hedrim openly expostulated, and demanded some reason for 
such a tyrannical act; the order was peremptory and final, 
and here stood the officers to convey away the treasure. In 
the midst of groans, and prayers, and sighs, the sacred treas- 
ury of the temple was invaded and the clinking gold in coin 
and bars, was pitilessly weighed out; the armed soldiers care- 
lessly lifted the sacks of plunder and under escort of Metel- 
lus and his men, marched across the temple area, up the 
covered way into Antonia; and it was not long before the 
delegation under escort, was marching through the city on 
their way back to Caesarea. The news of the outrage spread 
like a vapor along the streets. 

Abner came rushing into his father’s Bazaar, having 
dogged the soldiers with the seething swarm that murmur- 
ingly swept behind them. ^^How Father, what do you say? 
You were right; that order meant money. ’Tis another 
twist of the chains.” 

^AVhat do you mean?” gasped the white-headed man; 
^^Money? How much?” 

Abner was stalking up and do™ the Bazaar. ^^Slaves! 
Hothing but slaves! We work; they take. We own noth- 
ing.” 

^^How much, my son Abner?” laying his trembling hand 
on the folded, haughty arm as he caught sight of the iron 

*Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 14. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


59 


boxes borne, each between two men. ^Was it five talents?’^ 
Old men now rushed in with uplifted hands and increased 
the perturbation of Elkanah. Abner walked back and forth 
like a caged lion. 

^^Soon they will demand our sisters and our wives. They 
take us by the ear and lead us about like dogs.” 

^‘’Spare me not, Ben Ezra; tell me even the truth,” turn- 
ing to an aged man who stood there; and when the old 
man gasped out, — ‘^^Seventeen talents, by the throne of God!” 
Elkanah stood trembling in every limb. 

^^Money,” cried Abner bitterly, as the Bazaar filled up, 
^^Money! WhaBs money? Their heel is on us. ^Tis not 
our money; Tis our liberty, — our lives, we need to look to. 
They wdll never stop at money.” Then, turning to his 
father: ‘^How much of that money have you paid to be 
held sacred to God alone? Now, who’s got it? Who be- 
sides, paid that money? The poor, the widow, even moth- 
erless ragged children; and now a heathen, a cursed dog, 
makes off with it for Caesar! Caesar will never see it!” 
Abner stepped out and was lost among the surging populace. 
The air was filled with shoutings, and prodigious clamors, 
that rose from the temple walls. 

Erom his eagle perch upon the battlements of Antonia, 
looking down upon all this wild commotion (and it must be 
confessed, with a gloating smile) leaned the commander, 
Metellus, and his Centurions. The living panorama of white 
head-cloths and striped abbas moved tumultuously beneath 
them. The roar and din went straight up the wall to their 
ears. 

'T thought ’twould stir them,” chuckled Metellus. "'By 
Proserpina! if some of those old men are not covered with 
sackcloth. See them shake their fists and toss their arms.” 


60 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


The temple was a mighty hive of giant, angry bees and 
the porches resounded with their incessant buzzing. ^^See 
those women throw their arms around each other’s necks.” 
Metellus’ eye began roaming about over the temple area re- 
gardless of sound or crowd. He was looking for some one. 
He could tell her form and bearing among a thousand. Would 
that he could peer over its walls into the court of the women. 
His eyes wandered under the porticos here and there. His 
breath unconsciously came and went faster. He was ab- 
sorbed in his search. A touch on his shoulder: ^‘^Com- 
mander Metellus, what think you that means?” The Cen- 
turion pointed to a young man presenting a basket to the 
people as if asking charity in the court of the Centiles. 
They watched him. Now he mounts the marble railing that 
shuts out all Gentiles from the sacred precincts; he is talk- 
ing; the crowd gathers about him and quiets down. ^^Hark! 
What does he say? What are those words?” ^^Beggar — Florus 
— a crumb — a farthing — Florus, poor beggar — alms — alms.” 
These were the disconnected words that they caught above 
the hum. That young man was the youngest son of Elkanah 
whom we saw in the opening chapter of this story scourging 
Ben Ananus. He is the brother of Abner and Elthemus 
and Elule. 

Holding out his basket this young man with others 
that now joined him, went from one to another as if begging. 
Some bent and spat in the baskets; others threw in litter 
from the pavement of the area. 'Tor Caesar,” pleaded Gad 
and the young fellows who had taken up the joke. (Metellus 
distinctly heard the words "For Caesar.”) They were greeted 
everywhere with mocking laughter, so well they played their 
part.* 

Vosephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 14. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


61 


Jupiter!’^ said the Centurion, ^Vhat think you of 

that?’^ 

think/^ said Metellus, ^^they will smart well for this 
insult thrown in our very face. See you how they turn and 
look up at us and mock.” 

Forthwith descending, he learned that the mockery was 
as he supposed; that the young men had been impersonating 
Floras by publicly playing beggars, but the names of the 
offenders could not be learned. 

That very evening he penned a full account of the 
scene to Gessius Florus. After he had sealed the informa- 
tion ready for the courier next morning he reached across 
the table and lifted the gold-bound, ivory casket. ‘^Why does 
my heart go out so to this girl of a hated race?” He care- 
fully took out the browned lily and tenderly smelling of 
its odorless petals, looked long at it and kissed the gauze- 
like tissues as if they were her hand. But yesterday he had 
passed her house and in the overhanging window, with the 
lattice thrown back she sat. Her beautiful arm bare to the 
elbow, showed his jeweled armlet circling its roundness and 
softness, as she pensively rested her cheek in her palm. Her 
eyes spoke, if ever eyes did; — they were lifted and fell full 
on his for one blissful moment, and awakened mysterious 
longings, and opened fountains in his soul that continued 
flowing without his will. Ho artist was needed to bring that 
face to his remembrance; its ravishing beauty emerged of 
itself, framed in lattice work. ^Tf only she were mine!” 
He sat and pondered in silence. In thought he cursed that 
fate which separated them by an unpassable gulf. ^To 
win her! To make her my own! But she’s a Jewess 
and Fm a Koman. What would I not yield for her! By 
Jupiter! she shall be mine,” and his brawny fist 


62 


THE DYING LAMP; 


smote the table with a blow that woke him from his 
reverie. 

In the meantime where was this bright star in the 
commander’s heavens? Open the door of her brother Elthe- 
mus’ house. There on a divan is a picture indeed. In the lap 
of Elule, folded in her lovely arms, lying with his face against 
her swelling bosom, outlined by the carelessly open oriental 
robe, lay little Paul half asleep. 

^^So my darling Paul was very, very sick, and aunt Lule 
knew nothing of it until it was over.” 

The boy snuggled his face into the soft, warm em- 
broidery without opening his eyes. He had just turned over 
in his after-dinner nap and she had caught him up and was 
now hanging over him and kissing his sweet smelling hair. 

^‘Look here, Paulie, wake up. Open your eyes for aunt 
Lulie;” and nesting him in her arms and bosom she kissed 
his forehead, and nose, and eyelids and hugged him tightly 
with ecstatic squeezes. ^^You love aunt Lule?” The little 
head dreamily nodded assent and then at last the eyes opened. 
^^Are you coming to see aunt and spend the whole day?” 
Another nod. ^^And we will go to walk out down the valley?” 
This question had the desired effect. 

^^Uncle John’s going to take me to walk some day, so!” 
He was wide awake and sitting upright in her lap. ^^He’s go- 
ing to take me to the castle and we’ll see a great many things.” 

^‘^Did he tell you that?” and her bosom heaved uncon- 
sciously. 

“He’s been away preaching.” 

“Has he?” 

^TTes, way off. I like him. I like Uncle John.” 
By this time the boy was kneeling in her lap and looking 
squarely in her face. Taking hold of the two sides of her robe. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


63 


which gaped open from her shapely neck, with both his fists, 
he said blnntly, ‘^Are yon a Christian Auntie 

^my, darling?” 

^^Becanse, if you aren’t, something bad will happen to 
you, and I don’t want it should.” 

^^So you love Aunt?” 

He gave a quick assent, throwing his arms around her 
neck and squeezing her as hard as he could, much to the 
confusion of her luxurious tresses which hung in wanton 
rolls on her neck. 

^^There, darling dear, there!” she gasped. 

He smoothed back her hair from her forehead with both 
his hands: ^^Granma’s got white hair. Yours is black and 
soft; will it ever be white like Granma’s? Will you ever be 
old like Granma? 

^^Yes, I suppose so.” 

^^Will you ever have crackles all over your face like 
Granma?” He rubbed his palms over the smooth cheek. 
^^Granma prays for you. I hear her; and she cries, too.” 
^What makes her cry?” asked Elule. ‘‘1 know; she thinks 
something bad will happen to you. Granma says that Jesus 
will come again; He is coming again, did you know it? Gran- 
ma loves him. Do you love him?” 

The kind heart could not elude, nor would she de- 
ceive the boy. love God, darling.” 

The little prattler paused and seemed lost in thought 
as his wide eyes looked away. Presently Eachel came in and 
talked with her; and Paul slid down and climbed in Eachel’s 
lap. She had not talked long before she marked in Elule an 
unusual restraint. Something was on Elule’s mind and she 
lapsed easily into pensive silence. At last, rising and kissing 
both the boy and his grandmother adieu, she hastened home. 


64 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


The innocent question of the child had gone like a 
tiny arrow to her heart. She had said she loved God; was she 
doing right in carrying on a clandestine intercourse with 
Metellus, no one of her family, not even her father, knowing 
of it? Suppose her father and brothers should find out that 
she had received a gift from a Eoman; what would he the 
consequences? Her fear made her tremble at the thought- 
less act; and with damp, cold fingers she took out the dread- 
ful serpent, whose red eyes glared at her. She had re- 
ceived this from an almost utter stranger. But what was 
worse she loved him. She could not help herself, her nature 
flowed toward him in spite of fear. In what happy reveries 
she had lived for months without a word to her nearest 
friend. She had wondered about his home, — ^his friends. 
How often she had climbed to the roof and looked longingly 
toward the mighty fortress. He loved her; here was the 
jeweled pledge. And when to her constantly repressed pas- 
sion, all unexpectedly this pledge had come, she in her rapture 
thoughtlessly plucked a flower from her hair. She was liv- 
ing a double life in her home; was it right? love God,” 
she had said to little Paul, and was she doing right before 
God? 

Presently calling an old and trusty servant, she placed 
a parcel in his hands: 'Tor Metellus, the Tribune at 
the fortress.” In it was the jewel and this simple message: 

At home. Month of EM, the 23d day. 
"To the Tribune, Metellus, — 

It is not permitted. 

Elule, daughter of Elkanah.” 

And when the servant was gone she drew her feet upon 
her divan, panting like a hunted thing while the hot tears 
flowed till she fell asleep. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


65 


CHAPTER YIII. 

THE FIRST WAIL. 

THUNDERBOLT of Roman wrath had been gen- 
erating ever since the mocking scene in the temple 
and now it was ready to he launched upon the 
helpless city. The dark cloud had drifted swiftly city-ward, 
and had now settled down over the walls. Florus had come 
in person to Jerusalem and his troops were actually gar- 
risoned within the walls that enclosed the palace of Herod 
the Great. Terror seized the populace. Some terrible thing 
was to happen. The elders, and chief priests, and prin- 
cipal men clasped their hands in supplication, and poured 
out their tears in the temple. The breath of the rich 
men came quick with apprehension, and the nodding and 
whispering groups were very grave. 

feared it; we prophesied to the young men what 
might be the consequences from such an insult to Florus, 
and now what he will do we cannot tell.” Listen! A 
Roman herald passes through the streets and the temple area, 
commanding chief priests, elders, and all holding certain of- 
fices, to appear before the Procurator on the morrow. ^^What 
price shall we now pay for the impudence and folly of the 
young men?” was their universal question in their agony of 
suspense. 

At the time appointed, the open spaces in the enclosure 
about the magnificent palace of Herod the Great on the 
western slope of Mt. Zion were swarming with dignitaries 
of the temple and nation, dressed in their official robes; about 
them were beautiful gardens and fountains and shrubbery 



66 


THE DYING LAMP; 


and groves, but their eyes saw none of these. Their eyes 
were anxiously being cast toward the Pavement on which 
was raised the judicial seat of Florus in front of the Pre- 
torium. 

^There, there he comes!” 

In state from the portal of the palace walked Gessius 
Florus, preceded by two Lictors, each with his insignia of 
office on his shoulder, — (an ax bound about with rods) and 
followed by a body guard whose heavy armor rang as they 
marched. This guard was not Eoman, like the cohort of 
Metellus, but composed of Syrians and Samaritans, the latter 
of whom were natural enemies of the Jews. Mounting the 
tribunal Florus seated himself in a heavy carved chair, and 
looked sternly over the brilliant, hushed scene before him, 
while rank after rank of soldiers filed to the right and 
to the left and took their station on his either side. The 
Jewish dignitaries meekly took their stand according to their 
office before him, awaiting his pleasure. 

The Procurator, still sitting, laid before them the cause 
of the summons, severely pointing out to them that the pub- 
lic mockery in the temple was not only a flaunting insult 
to himself but in fact had been ofiiered to the Eoman gov- 
ernment, — to Caesar himself, and demanded reparation. With 
a heavy scowl he asserted that such conduct was treason. 

^^ISTow,” said he, ^ffieliver up into my hands all the of- 
fenders this very day, or you all shall suffer, and I shall 
not be responsible for the results; but the offenders must 
die.”* 

Tremblingly an aged and eminent citizen with many 
fulsome compliments to Florus, explained that the people 
of the J ews were peaceably disposed, but that among so 

*Josephus, Wara. Bk. 2. Chap. 14. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWliJ. 


67 


many it was no wonder if there was an occasional foolish 
and disobedient subject; all good men grieved over the offense 
but it hardly seemed just to account all as offenders who 
had so thoughtlessly been partakers in this' crime. 

“All of them,” said Florus sternly; “all of them.” 

^^lost noble Gessius Florus,” continued the speaker, 
greatly agitated, “among so many it is impossible to dis- 
tinguish the innocent from the guilty; surely the clemency 
of the Procurator will accept a ransom for the lives of these 
thoughtless youths, lest the innocent suffer with the guilty; 
lest the good — 

The pent up, fell purpose of Florus had been previously 
and deliberately formed and the summons was merely a pre- 
text to gather his prey. At the word “Good” he turned 
quickly with a signal to his armed men who had been pre- 
viously instructed to save alive certain principal citizens. In 
a moment the palace ground became a scene of indescribable 
terror. Fifteen or twenty marked men were made prison- 
ers; the others, flying wildly, were hacked down in their 
tracks. Crimson pools, and the bodies of dead and dying, 
strewed the pavement. The helpless herd trod down one 
another. Behind them swung the dripping sword. The sur- 
rounding houses and balconies echoed with shrieks, and 
groans, and prayers, and curses. The fortunate fled through 
the gate into the city spreading paralyzing fear. Quietly 
on his tribunal sat the Procurator gloating over the scene; 
and when after the massacre the guard began to form again, 
Florus, with the dead and dying all about, rose, and with a 
wave of permission cried out: “On! The treasures of the 
Upper Market are yours.” A shout of brutal joy rose from 
the blood-frenzied soldiery; and through the gates they swept 
to their work of robbery and murder. Before them helpless 


68 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


men and women and children fled as bleating sheep before 
yelping wolves. Opposition? Defence? ^^Hew down every 
man!” him through to the hilt!” Dead and dying 

merchants lay dripping over their own bales of goods or 
were tossed into the street; while costly fabrics, or silver 
filigree work, or golden neck chains were borne away glee- 
fully by strong hands. Jewelry, bracelets, rings, and precious 
stones were swept up like crumbs into cloths, and swung 
over heavy shoulders. The roar of exultation, agony, terror, 
rolled down the street.* The first echoes had now reached 
the Bazaar of Elkanah. Euth was there with little Paul. 
She and her father stepped out and were almost paralyzed 
at the sight of the threatening wave of death setting toward 
them. 

^^Tiere? Oh father, where?” Euth caught up her boy. 

^^No, Euth, give me the — But the mother had leaped 
like an hart with her burden in her bosom. Elkanah followed 
behind her, with the roaring of the massacre following behind 
him. A few soldiers were not more than two hundred paces 
away, striking right and left. Euth, casting a look over 
her shoulder as she ran, saw a woman fall under the crimson 
blade of a fellow who was outrunning the other murderers 
and even as she looked back the eyes of the fiend who did 
the deed, caught hers, and in an instant he leaped for her. 
^^Oh Grod, help!” she cried, as she flew clasping her clinging 
treasure. Her frame thrilled with the electricity of terror; 
she did not feel the weight in her arms, but bounded swiftly 
as the wind down the street, and by groups of flying men 
and boys. Through such a gate in the old, middle wall 
she must go, up such a street, a turn to the left, another 
turn to the right, and then she would be in sight of the 
^Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 14. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


69 


portal that opened into the palace enclosure. Oh, the length 
of the way! On, on, she fled, swifter than the flying crowds; 
a man, — an acquaintance, coming suddenly from a side street 
took in the situation and whipping out his dagger struck 
fiercely at the pursuer. It gave her a few steps in advance. 
She heard the curses; the struggle was short. Quickly again 
she heard the clack, clack of the hoh-nailed sandals sound- 
ing behind her. 

“Oh, my hoy! Oh Jesus !’^ The fleeing men she comes 
up with vanish as if by magic into side-streets and behind 
arches. Around that mother’s neck clung the little arms; 
the little body lay tight to that wildly heating breast. This 
v/aS a race for more than life, for love. The gathered energy 
of weeks was poured into those few moments. The strength 
of that loving mother’s will made her an almost super-human 
creature. So, she could not have fled, had her own life 
alone been at stake. “Clack, clack,” and muttered curses 
were behind her. She reaches the last turn. The crowds fly 
and leave her to her fate. If only she can endure till she 
gains the portal; hut even if she does, the Eoman guard 
there may now turn against her and kill her; she can see 
him now between the forms of scattering men. He has just 
wheeled in his heat before the portal. The pass word? She 
knew it hut could not think of it; a little prayer; like light- 
ning it came quick to mind: “Vespasian!” She leaped on and 
on. She sees her mother on the stairs beyond the portal: “Oh 
God for a little more strength!” She is gaining the gateway. 
One hound — another, “Pasian!” she gasped to the confront- 
ing sentry as with open, panting mouth, she leaped by him, 
and stumbled,— and fell full length in a swoon a few feet in- 
side the enclosure. Instantly the Eoman pike barred the pas- 
sage a second time; instantly the pursuer, burning with such a 


70 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


thirst for blood that he had not slacked his pace, stooped, 
heedless, to pass the sentry without the countersign, and in 
stooping, fell with his outstretched sword touching the wom- 
an’s feet. Instantly that relentless pike rose and came down 
swiftly with unerring aim into the prostrate neck uncovered 
by the rolling helmet. With a groan, the Samaritan poured 
out his life. That relentless pike could as easily have trans- 
fixed mother and child as they lay there in a heap, spattered 
with blood. The sentry withdrew his iron and moved again 
on his heat. Immediately the court swarmed with excited 
soldiers. Eachel edged her way to the prostrate girl and cry- 
ing child, and they were carried up the stairs. Ben Ananus 
appeared too, and lifted up his wail without interruption. 
After vigorous rubbing, Ruth faintly opened her eyes. 
^^Where’s baby?” and sank again to unconsciousness which 
no kisses of little Paul could arouse. That was a day of awful 
suspense as the clamor still resounded over the walls. 

Elkanah had followed on behind that murderous chase, 
and after a time appeared in the palace court almost pros- 
trated and wringing his hands. ^^Where is my family?” 
^^Where is Elule?” ^‘Where are Abner and Elthemus and 
Gad?” Thus he lamented as he walked about helplessly. 
Where were the treasures of his Bazaar? That his son Gad 
should have been the immediate cause of all this misery broke 
little by little with crushing weight on the father’s mind. 
Over the walls could be heard the uproar of the soldiers as 
they looted houses and Bazaars. All that afternoon Elkanah 
drank the cup of wormwood. 

In the evening Ruth had come to herself and as Elkanah 
could be no longer restrained, John accompanied him home. 
Over the debris of fallen walls and shattered boards, around 
dead bodies that lay everywhere, they picked their way by 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


71 


the light of their torches. Neither spoke a word as they 
clambered toward Elkanah’s home. ^‘My Elule, my sons,” 
was sounding in Elkanah’s heart. Down the street on which 
Elkanah’s house stood, the wreckage was worst, and their 
hearts were failing them, when, to their astonishment the 
flare of the torches on the standinsr walls beyond the mass 
of ruins, showed a row of houses on his street untouched; and 
Elkanah’s was one of them. The pillage had evidently been 
cut off short. 

When the barricade from the inside of his door was 
removed and he stood in his own house and learned that all 
were safe Elkanah sat down speechless. 

^^The Lord has answered our prayers,” said John, and 
in that sobbing group he lifted up his voice in thanksgiving. 
But, after a time, Abner, pointing to their bloody feet and 
to the dark stains on the floor, spoke out: ^^Murdered like 
sheep; the blood of our nation is no better than the blood 
of cattle;” and he withdrew from them as they told of their 
various experiences, and walked alone on the house top leav- 
ing them to question and wonder why the looting so suddenly 
stopped on their street. 


72 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTEE IX. 

THE FEEMENT. 

E next morning! Oh, the agony of the next morn- 
ing! Hot only three thousand five hundred inno- 
cent men, women and children lay dead by the 
insane sword,* (1) hut, horror of horrors! hanging on crosses 
in the palace garden around the Pavement, were seen the 
dead and dying bodies of fifteen eminent men of Jerusalem, 
who had been saved from the massacre to he crucified.* (2) 
This was noised abroad; the destruction of the market, and 
desolation of homes, and even the unhuried dead were for- 
gotten under the spell of the fascination that drew a wailing 
mass of humanity to the palace gates. Execrations, yells and 
curses on Florus, rose and filled all the air. Bad enough, 
surely; hut the principal men and the monied men now went 
through the crowd with rent mantles and dust on their heads, 
pleading for quiet, lest the wrath of Florus should break out 
afresh. From his palace halls Florus heard the curses, — 
saw the rage and also the pleading. 

^^Ah! hah! You Jewish dogs, Pll make you grovel, 
and whine still more.” That day he summoned other prin- 
cipal men. They feared to obey; they dared not disobey. 
About them still hung on the crosses the naked, scourged 
bodies of fathers, friends, citizens. 

^‘^Such a demonstration as we have seen this morning is 
an affront on the Eoman government worthy of the severest 
penalties. I order that the men of Jerusalem go forth in a 
body from the gate by the tombs of the kings and meet and 



(1 and 2) *Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 14. 


TtiE QLORIOtJS DAWN, 


73 


Balute the cohort that this day comes from Caesarea. If you 
do this, well. If not, you shall bear the consequences. This 
is all.’^ 

Immediately Florus despatched a messenger to the dis- 
tant marching troops with this message. ^^When the Jews 
salute you, pay no attention; do not return the salute.”* 

Down to the temple the released men went and pro- 
claimed Florus’ demand. 

'^Oh, Abner,” said Elkanah, ^^for my sake obey the com- 
mand.” ^Tor my sake,” pled each aged and wealthy citizen 
with the young men. The priests brought out the holy 
vessels before the surging throng; the harpers and singers 
played and sang '^Trust thou in Jehovah.” The chief priests 
with torn mantles and naked breasts kneeled in the vast open 
portals of the inner enclosure before all the people and 
piteously begged them to obey and save the city. But see 
those young men among whom are Abner and Elthemus, 
moving about secretly, whispering their indignation, shaking 
the index finger in the breast of the listener. What passionate 
gestures with the clinched fist, — what black glances of hatred! 
'^We will fight but we will not submit.” 

WTien on that afternoon through those stained streets 
a great body of citizens, old and young, marched to salute the 
Roman cohort, Elkanah was not accompanied by any of his 
sons. Outside the gate stood the great multitude patiently 
waiting. Dust rises over the mountain. ^^There they coliic!” 
Two cohorts of footmen two thousand strong appear in 
serried ranks. A forest of spears over a flowing stream of 
gleaming helmets. The multitude move on to meet them and, 
parting to the right and left, cry with a long shout: ^Tlail 
Saviors!” As silent as stones the sullen ranks tramp on. 

Vosephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 15. 


74 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Instantly from the crowd, curses and yells are thrown at the 
troops mingled with curses on Florus. ^Tis enough; those 
armed men fall on the mob and beat them down and trample 
them like weeds of the marsh. Hundreds are beaten and 
trodden to death; they tread upon one another in their 
fright.* Back through the gate the pikes drive them into 
Bezetha. Then uprose the cry of the soldiers: ^'On to the 
temple!” But the city leaped to the protection of its sanc- 
tuary with the frenzy of a tiger when its lair is invaded, and 
thousands of men almost hare-handed fought hack the sol- 
diers. Retreating, the baffled soldiers took refuge behind the 
walls of the palace of Herod. 

Now, all over the city were held secret meetings to 
excite revolt against a government that could commit such 
malicious and awful outrages. Abner, under Eleazer, a 
prominent priest, and the young men of his fellowship, were 
active, urging with all their eloquence an open break with 
Rome. They were never tired of pointing to the Maccabees 
and their wonderful work of deliverance from Syrian tyranny. 
Said Abner, ^^That one man, of yonder little city of Modina, 
near Joppa, dared to oppose the edict of the Syrian king. He 
dared in the very face of Apelles, the king’s offlcer, to refuse 
to sacrifice to the idols which the impious Antiochus had set 
up. More than that, he dared to strike down a Jew who 
was about to comply. He trusted in Jehovah and Jehovah 
wrought through him Israel’s deliverance.” 

Another point of conscience he and all the young pa- 
triots had imbibed from Eleazer, the priest: the holy altar 
of Jehovah ought no longer be desecrated with the unclean 
offerings of the Emperor of Rome. ^^Which is worse,” he 
asked, ^To sacrifice to idols or to allow an idolater to pollute 
Vosephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 16. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


15 


our sacred altars by impious offerings which he sends here 
daily? Is God pleased with such service? Does not God 
say by the mouth of his prophet Isaiah ^He that slaughtereth 
an ox unless he does it with a worshipful spirit is as though 
he had killed a man: and he that sacrificeth a sheep if he 
does it as Caesar does it, insults Him as if he offered an un- 
clean dog or swine’s flesh?’ Does he not say: ‘^^Come out and be 
ye separate and I will then be your God and ye shall be my 
people?’ Does not Ezekiel say that in the coming glorious 
kingdom the Gibeonites shall no longer be permitted even as 
hewers of wood or drawers of water in the temple, but all 
God’s service shall be so sacred that only the puri- 
fied Levites shall be permitted to be partakers in 
it? Are we drawing toward, or away from, that 
glorious condition, when the vilest of the earth are 
permitted not only to serve but actually to worship at the 
most holy altar with their sacrifices?” By such inflammatory 
thoughts the mind of the younger class were being prepared 
for an act by which Jerusalem should immediately break 
with Kome. 

About this time we learn from history that in order to 
sooth their feelings and persuade the people to subordination, 
Agrippa II. paid a visit to the city. Gathering the principal 
men together in his palace court he urged them to submit. 
He said: ^^The Romans have conquered the world and evi- 
dently God is on their side. As a nation you are small in 
comparision with the Emipre. Your only recourse in this 
event is to Divine Providence; but Divine Providence is al- 
ready on the side of the Romans, for it is impossible that 
80 vast an empire should be established without God^s aid, 
therefore it is better quietly to submit.”* 

*Josephus, Wans. Bk. 2. Chap. 17. 


74 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Instantly from the crowd, curses and yells are thrown at the 
troops mingled with curses on Florus. ^Tis enough; those 
armed men fall on the mob and heat them down and trample 
them like weeds of the marsh. Hundreds are beaten and 
trodden to death; they tread upon one another in their 
fright.* Back through the gate the pikes drive them into 
Bezetha. Then uprose the cry of the soldiers: '^On to the 
temple!” But the city leaped to the protection of its sanc- 
tuary with the frenzy of a tiger when its lair is invaded, and 
thousands of men almost bare-^handed fought back the sol- 
diers. Ketreating, the hajBded soldiers took refuge behind the 
walls of the palace of Herod. 

Now, all over the city were held secret meetings to 
excite revolt against a government that could commit such 
malicious and awful outrages. Abner, under Eleazer, a 
prominent priest, and the young men of his fellowship, were 
active, urging with all their eloquence an open break with 
Kome. They were never tired of pointing to the Maccabees 
and their wonderful work of deliverance from Syrian tyranny. 
Said Abner, ‘^That one man, of yonder little city of Modina, 
near Joppa, dared to oppose the edict of the Syrian king. He 
dared in the very face of Apelles, the king’s officer, to refuse 
to sacrifice to the idols which the impious Antiochus had set 
up. More than that, he dared to strike down a Jew who 
was about to comply. He trusted in Jehovah and Jehovah 
wrought through him Israel’s deliverance.” 

Another point of conscience he and all the young pa- 
triots had imbibed from Eleazer, the priest: the holy altar 
of Jehovah ought no longer be desecrated with the unclean 
offerings of the Emperor of Rome. ^^Which is worse,” he 
asked, “to sacrifice to idols or to allow an idolater to pollute 

* Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 16. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


75 


our sacred altars by impious offerings which he sends here 
daily? Is God pleased with such service? Does not God 
say by the mouth of his prophet Isaiah ‘He that slaughtereth 
an ox unless he does it with a worshipful spirit is as though 
he had killed a man: and he that sacrificeth a sheep if he 
does it as Caesar does it, insults Him as if he offered an un- 
clean dog or swine’s flesh?’ Does he not say: ‘Come out and be 
ye separate and I will then be your God and ye shall be my 
people?’ Does not Ezekiel say that in the coming glorious 
kingdom the Gibeonites shall no longer be permitted even as 
hewers of wood or drawers of water in the temple, but all 
God’s service shall be so sacred that only the puri- 
fied Levites shall be permitted to be partakers in 
it? Are we drawing toward, or away from, that 
glorious condition, when the vilest of the earth are 
permitted not only to serve but actually to worship at the 
most holy altar with their sacrifices?” By such inflammatory 
thoughts the mind of the younger class were being prepared 
for an act by which Jerusalem should immediately break 
with Eome. 

About this time we learn from history that in order to 
sooth their feelings and persuade the people to subordination, 
Agrippa II. paid a visit to the city. Gathering the principal 
men together in his palace court he urged them to submit. 
He said: ‘^The Eomans have conquered the world and evi- 
dently God is on their side. As a nation you are small in 
comparision with the Emipre. Your only recourse in this 
event is to Divine Providence; but Divine Providence is al- 
ready on the side of the Eomans, for it is impossible that 
so vast an empire should be established without God^s aid, 
therefore it is better quietly to submit.”* 

Vosephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 17. 


76 


THE DYING LAMP; 


This doctrine was not at all calculated to calm the bold 
young spirits of the city. 

"Is this,” said Abner, at a concourse afterward held in 
the temple, "is this the teaching of the law, or of the proph- 
ets, or of Israel’s sacred history? What was the motto of 
Judas Maccabeus when he led his victorious little band 
against the ten thousands of the Syrian Serra? Even that 
heroic, grand truth uttered by Jonathan, son of Saul: ^ith 
the God of heaven it is all one to deliver with a great multi- 
tude or a small company.’ By the spirit of that saying, with 
a mere handful of men, Judas Maccabeus utterly defeated 
the Syrian hosts of Nicanor, who, as he fled in terror from 
the battle cried out in despair: 'The mighty God fights for the 
Jews.’ Thus cried the man who felt so sure of victory that 
he sold the Jews, before the test of battle, at ninety men for 
a talent. We conquered the hosts of the Gentiles then; we 
gained our liberty once; the nation was no larger then than 
now; shall we not strike again for liberty? Our little armies 
then met mighty armies and slaying over two hundred thou- 
sand men drove the defeated forever from our sacred soil; 
and we can do this again. Is there not another family of 
Maccabees among us? Are there not many among us who 
breathe the spirit of the mystic letters of Maccabeus’ name — 
(M. C. B. Y.) — Mi — Chamoka — Baalim — ^Yahveh, which be- 
ing interpreted is: 'W^ho is like unto thee among the gods, oh 
Jehovah?’ That is the spirit our nation needs this day.” 

In strains like these, Abner, under the leadership of 
Eleazer, the priest, fanned the fire of patriotism to a white 
heat and prepared the young men for that act which was to 
be a virtual declaration of war. The events of the past few 
days had thrilled all hearts with a profound dread; and as 
they stirred Abner and his party, so they stirred John and 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


77 


the whole Christian church at Jerusalem, to activity also. 
The little churches were filled with praying Christians, and 
to them the very air was touched with awful solemnity as 
the words of the Lord were recalled, those ominous words of 
Christ's concerning the destruction of the city. ^^The time 
draws near.” These were the burden of John's preaching and 
of all the ministers of the Gospel in Jerusalem, "The time 
draws near, the end is at hand.” These events were hut 
forerunners of that last catastrophe, which seemed already in 
sight; and then the Kingdom of Christ would be established. 
Thus John exhorted: "Be ready therefore brethren; for the 
coming of the blessed Lord draweth nigh. Watch unto 
prayer; be sober and trust in the word of the Lord which 
cannot be broken; let us not be alarmed at these terrors, 
for we have been forewarned by the Lord, of them, and they 
only confirm his word, which promises a glorious deliverance. 
Put aside, therefore, all filthiness of the flesh; let us not lie 
one to another but speak the truth in love. Let not our 
hearts be set upon the things of the present, for the world 
passeth and the fashion of it. But, while here, holding in 
our hearts confidence that the glorious kingdom of our Lord 
shall be established in mighty power, let us live as those that 
await the coming of such a kingdom. Have we trials? They 
soon will be swallowed up in the joy of reward which the king 
shall render to the faithful. Are we beset by temptation? 
Let us remember we have one who was in all points tempted 
like as we, yet, without sin; who will bestow grace to his 
tempted ones. Are we called to the glorious ranks of the 
persecuted? The Lord has told us to rejoice for so perse- 
cuted they the prophets that were before us.” So, apart 
from the synagogue, at their own little gatherings the min- 
isters of the Word prepared the hearts of Christians for the 


IS 


THE DTim LAMP; 


fearful events that loomed up before them. But outside of 
the meeting places of Christians, in the temple, John, with 
other disciples spoke the Word, preaching peace by Jesus 
Christ. About them on every side was heard the clamor for 
war; but the burden of the quiet Gospel they spoke, was, 
Christ the only Savior. To a knot of men once, in the temple, 
John was saying: 

^^To-day there are plainest reasons why Jerusalem should 
ask what is the path of safety? Let me answer that question 
by the word of the Gospel; there is but one safe course for 
each soul of us, and but one safe course for the whole nation, 
and for our beloved city; and that is, the God-appointed way, 
of salvation through Jesus Christ. The Prince of Life who was 
crucified; who was laid in the tomb and rose from the dead 
and who now sits on the right hand of God; he is the mighty 
Savior who will deliver every one that believeth on him, out 
of all these and coming calamities.’’ At one time these words 
would have raised a tumult and violence, but now, John was 
only interrupted by a loud voice from the outer edge of the 
knot of listeners. 

^^Our salvation will come from ourselves, God helping 
us: We have heard your foolish doctrine these many years. 
You Christians are blind fanatics. The safety of the city 
depends on adherence to the Law of Jehovah; upon keeping 
this holy temple inviolate; upon Israel’s zeal for the cove- 
nant made with our father Abraham.” Eleazer, the priest, 
in passing had overheard some of John’s words and thus 
spoke out. A crowd began to gather at the sound of his 
shrill voice. 

^^Brethren,” John lowered his own voice to a deep, soft 
tone, "'Brethren, the God of Israel, the God and father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ is by these events beseeching us to hear 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


79 


the word of mercy which he spoke through his Son. On 
yonder mount, J esus, the Christ, sat and wept over this city.’’ 

With a louder voice Eleazer interrupted: “The City of 
J erusalem needs no one to weep over her. God has established 
her and she will stand forever.” 

John saw there was some unusual heat in the air, and 
he held his peace and turned in silence, and was about to 
make his way out from among the scowling faces, when one 
shouted: 

“He’s a Romanizer, down with him!” Another, “He’S a 
Christian!” and then from all sides: “Traitor! Traitor!” 

John was seized, dragged, jerked about, beaten on the 
head and face. In a moment his clothes were flying in 
tatters; he was perfectly helpless in the hands of that angry 
mob. Suddenly he saw Abner and Elthemus striking blows 
in his defence and reaching for him. More persons ran 
together and soon the great court saw a general melee. John 
was bleeding and faint. 

Now, above the clamor rose a different kind of voice, 
commanding quiet, and heavy pikes were falling indiscrimi- 
nately with loud thwacks over the shoulders and heads of the 
mob. A Roman wedge was driving itself through the mass 
and the mass was splitting and falling away on either side. 
John and his friends found themselves standing face to face 
with armed peacemakers, a Roman centurion and soldiers. 
John was seized and in spite of all explanations and protesta- 
tions from Abner and others, was arrested and quietly 
marched off to the fortress of Antonia. 


80 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTER X. 

THE PIVOTAL POINT. 

HEN Elthemus had been appointed to help kidnap 
the High Priest’s little son he had come to the 
turning point of his life; the events of all his future 
the destinies of other lives were actually hanging on 
the decision of this evening upon which he now had entered 
when he would decide to do the deed or not; and yet, he did 
not dream of its importance. He only was conscious that 
God had brought him to a point where his path forked, to the 
right and to the wrong. It was nearly midnight and he was 
walking alone in the midst of the slumbering city, — up and 
down, in the Tyropean Valley. Towering above him on 
one side were the dark walls of the temple court, and on the 
other the walls of Agrippa’s palace and the Xystus. He was 
deciding between self interest and the right. These were 
his thoughts: ^‘Here’s the dagger,” (his left hand grasped 
its hilt buried in his girdle,) ^^and there — lifting up his 
finger as if pointing to it, ‘^is the cross. The Nazarine, it 
seems to me now, is the very Messiah; something assures me 
of that, but to follow him as John does and break away from 
every tie for his sake, — how can I do that? This evening, 
I agreed on the day for the deed. How can I do it? But 
I am driven by chains and daggers. What curse upon my 
soul snared me into this devil’s trap? I seize that boy? My 
Paul, my little Paul clutches my heart. I cannot do it. I 
cannot do it! Oh, take it away!” he motioned to the bag 
of gold that seemed held out to him. gladly give all my 
share of the ransom. Oh, God pity me! Oh, what shall I do? 



and also 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


81 


What shall I do?” He groaned the last words out loud, 
involuntarily, and with a start was brought hack to himself, 
as an awakened cur, sleeping near the great bridge that ran 
over the valley to the temple, yelped out at him and slunk 
away. once could have done this and no misgivings, but 
the opening eyes of my boy (when the power of Christ 
touched him) look upon me, and Christ will surely save me 
out of this as he saved the child. But, how can he?” He 
paced back and forth under the echoing archway. ‘^So, I 
carried him, and I remember my prayer, — T^f Christ saves 
the boy I will believe.^ I made it before those stars,” (lifting 
his hand beyond the great bridge’s black curve) ^^and God 
heard it. How often he plagues me of late^ — ^Are you a Chris- 
tian, papa?’ John is right. Rachel is right. To-night my 
boy is sleeping up there. How can I, oh, how can I?” He 
sat down on a projection under the great archway on a cold, 
damp stone. 

The city was asleep; the air chilly; a draught was being 
sucked down through the archway into the valley below. He 
heeded it not. Bending forward he gripped his head with his 
fingers. ^^To hear the cry of that boy would drive me mad. 
I will tell them to go without me, and to keep the ransom; 
but then it might be my lot to kill my — my — own father. I 
would hide him. Ah, hah! I had thought of that. Oh, if 
I were at Ephesus or Antioch, — anywhere else, than here.” 
He lay his full length along the projection as one utterly 
exhausted, and panted, while his twitching fingers were locked 
over his breast: ^^My God! what shall I do? I have chained 
myself to my destruction.” He breathed hard in his struggle 
and wet his dry lips again and again with his tongue. On the 
narrow projection he turned over and lay on his side. In his 
delirium of anguish he clutched at his clothes. At last he 


82 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


opened his eyes and found himself looking at the stars. ^^God 
heard me once. I will pray again/’ and getting down he 
kneeled in the starlight on the stones of the street. ^‘Oh God, 
can you help me? lam in despair; help me for Jesus’ sake.” 
Quick as a flash sounded in his ears as plainly as if lips 
had uttered them: “God so loved the world that he gave his 
only begotten son that whoso believeth on him should not 
perish but have everlasting life.” “If I become a disciple 
what will become of me?” Clearly and instantly as if they 
were pronounced in his soul, ^Tear not; I am with thee. I 
who am mighty to save.” He paused, and rose and laid both 
hands on the stone before him. “To be a disciple means 
the scorn of father, brothers, sister; and the brotherhood will 
seek my life.” Again he heard the words: “Fear not. I 
am with thee. Be not dismayed, I am thy God and I will 
strengthen thee; yea, 1 will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee 
with the right hand of my righteousness.” Turning, he rest- 
ed back against the stone and folded his arms, and leaning 
back thus, he pondered: “The power of Christ plucked him 
from the jaws of death, so he can pluck me. Shall I trust 
him?” 

He stood meditating in the silence when from some 
source came an unbidden thought; it had never come to him 
before. “Well,” said Elthemus out loud as if in answer, and 
in a very matter of fact tone “That may be. It may be, that 
just then, was the turning point of the disease. It may be; 
other children have been as low. Now, I remember a case, 
and the child recovered; was just as sick. It might have been 
so with Paul. It looks so. If he was to die, he would have 
died; but it happened to be the turning point. Others get 
well and no power of any Christ about it; he got well. What 
am I here for? What a fool have I been! Why did I not 


TEtl GLORIOUS DAWR. 


83 


see this before He was greatly relieved. ^‘What hour is 
it? Beginning of the third watch. How hungry I am.’^ He 
hastily climbed the steps that led up to the palace enclosure. 
He stood at the great portal before the sentry. ^‘What! a 
light in her window?” Giving the countersign to the sen- 
try he entered, he stepped softly up the stairs. ^^Can any- 
thing possibly be the matter with Paul?” he thought. 
Softly he stopped at the open door. He heard someone talk- 
ing; no, praying; KacheFs voice! She prayed for the City 
of Jerusalem; for deliverance from evil; for light to break 
on the hearts of her kindred; for little Paul; oh, how pas- 
sionate were her supplications for God^s blessing on his little 
head. (Elthemus leaned with his palm against the door post.) 
Then she prayed for the child^s father, giving thanks for 
the Holy Spirit that had so changed him of late, — ^^Oh, father, 
for Jesus^ sake, grant him a full revelation of thy mercy. Oh, 
Lord, I cannot give him up. My soul all this night has been 
in agony for him — I cannot rest. My heart is sore troubled 
and I cannot tell why, but Merciful Father who knowest all 
hearts, seek him out and reveal the things of Christ unto him 
and grant unto him thy peace. Let it not be! Oh, let it not 
be! Let him not drive thy Holy Spirit from him. Reveal 
unto him a Savior, — a crucified Savior for him, — a risen Sa- 
vior and One mighty to save him.” 

If a bolt from the stars had dropped in the enclosure 
Elthemus would not have been more terrified. God had spoken 
now twice to his soul. He carefully picked his way down 
stairs, leaving the voice of prayer still sounding in the cham- 
ber and was soon out in the street. 

^‘What made me go up there so late?” he said, cursing 
himself. "Of course the boy was all right. Might have known 
the old woman would be praying.” He tried to shake him- 


84 


THE DYING LAMP; 


self of the influence that seemed about him. He hastened 
with a lope along the narrow, sounding streets. His ryth- 
mical foot-fall on the stones seemed to say: ^‘Take the cross — 
Take the cross.” He didnT like the sound and slacked his 
pace, and then it said: “Oh-take-up-the-cross.” The stones 
under him spoke it out. ^^Oh-take-up-the-cross.” 

God have mercy on the man who is driving away the 
Holy Spirit. If angels ever weep they weep when a man 
drives off by his stubbornness the best friend of his life. Oh, 
if a man could only see the course of life before him and the 
untold misery that follows the rejection of the pleading Spir- 
it! No arithmetic can calculate the weight of burden he is 
strapping on his shoulders or count the tears of sorrow that 
will follow. Elthemus was keenly hungry when he left the 
valley; now, hunger was gone. He felt ugly. ^^All this doc- 
trine about the Nazarine is a delusion and a lie.” He stopped 
short in his tracks: ^‘Delusion, or no delusion, I will have 
nothing to do with it.” There was an invisible line in the 
street and he unconsciously and quietly stepped over it, and 
his life from that moment was changed. His private subse- 
quent history told in this book, became involved in one of 
the world^s most awful tragedies which crept out slowly at 
first, and then galloped, and then rushed and roared, until 
it became a whirlwind of fury, sweeping all whom he loved 
in its terrors; simply because he had quietly passed the invisi- 
ble line and rejected the voice of mercy. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


85 


CHAPTEK XI. 

THE CEISIS. 

BEAUTIFUL morning was dawning upon Jeru- 
salem. Silently the sun was gildinsr the sky back 
of Olivet and kindling the brightness of the golden 
facade of the temple. The city had partially recovered from 
the demolition of its upper market place. All was quiet 
through the narrow, winding streets. But in the temple 
courts was gathered a great concourse of priests and young 
men. A hush of expectation was resting upon the throng. 
Something was about to be done which the leaders of the 
young men had long been planning to bring about, and the 
fiery spirited looked forward to, with exultation. The priests 
were massed in their elevated court clad in white vestments. 
Through the crowd below ran such breathings as these: ^^Ood 
will bless us in this act;” and, ^^Thus shall we cleanse the 
temple and the altar of a long-time disgrace and pollution,” 
or, ^‘This day will sound the note of our deliverance,” or 
"This day will teach the imperious Caesar that at least one 
race fears God rather than man.” Yet in spite of these as- 
surances the hearts of many of that throng were faint with 
dread; many were the hidden forebodings; many were the con- 
cealed tremblings. 

Eleazer, the son of Ananias, the High Priest, the head 
instigator of the movement now on foot, was passing up and 
down through the white robed ranks of his comrades with 
inspiriting words: "Eemember we do this, this day, for Jeho- 
vah’s sake.” The priests were pale with fear. A very bold deed 
was to be done and no one could forecast the full consequences. 



86 


THE DYING LAMP; 


The set time for the morning sacrifices drew on; a hush 
rested on the thronged temple court; the dazzling, rising sun 
smote the golden pile of architecture before them and re- 
flected its beams of glory all about. ^^See! there they come!” 
was the whispered universal exclamation as all eyes turned 
toward the temple gate. It seemed a very ordinary sight, and 
in truth it was a spectacle to which their eyes had been used 
for years. But this day there was to be an extraordinary act. 
Two Komans dressed in pure white Roman togas were seen 
leading a white calf up to the great altar. It was Caesar’s 
usual morning sacrifice. Every morning after the regular 
national sacrifice of the lamb, and every evening just before 
the sacrifice, Caesar’s sacrifice was offered. Every eye was 
fixed intently on that little group. The usual presentation 
of the victim was perfunctorily made to the Jewish priests. 
Every priest stood in his tracks. Then the deep voice of 
Eleazer sounded through the vast colonnades, which not 
long hence were to answer back with the thunders of war and 
woe: "The offering is not acceptable to Jehovah.” The at- 
tendants were astonished and looked about as if surmising the 
reason for the vast assembly; then laying a hand on the wait- 
ing victim: "Is not the sacrifice without blemish? Examine 
it. Is it not of age? You are obliged to receive it.” 

Eleazer solemnly confronting the untouched victim: 
'TVom this day and henceforth forever, no offerings will be 
received for the holy altar but such as are given by sincere 
believers in Jehovah, — the true children of Abraham.”* 

The angry attendant: ^T)o you dare refuse this un- 
blemished offering of Caesar? What does this mean?” 

^Tt means, that whatever the custom may be in these 
degenerate days, yet anciently it was not so. We, trusting 

*Joeephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chiap. 17. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


S7 


in our God, aim to restore the temple service to its former 
purity, and therefore it has been determined to refuse every 
offering for this altar from anyone not a circumcised Jew, 
even though the worshipper be Caesar himself. Not even 
Caesar is worthy the privilege of offering on this sacred altar 
of the Most High, maker of heaven and earth, until he enters 
into the number of God’s people by the holy rite of the 
Covenant.” 

With unutterable scorn the attendants turned: ^^You 
reject the sacrifice of Caesar at your peril!” and then led 
the milk-white yearling after them as they slowly passed out. 
See the witless creature slowly trudging with nodding head 
behind the white forms. It goes forth bearing the burden of 
an era in J ewish history and the history of the world. 

No sooner had the group cleared the gate than a shout 
of exaltation rose from the assemblage; and Eleazer stood 
forth on the steps under one of the great gateways: 

^^Brethren, let us not fear even though Caesar be 
against us. This day we have fulfilled the word of Jehovah: 
^Come out and be ye separate from among them,’ and this 
day we may claim the promise to those who obey. T will be 
your God and ye shall be my sons’ saith the Lord Almighty. 
Let us trust in the word of God. Two hundred years ago a 
heathen king set up on this very altar of Jehovah an idoj 
altar; a heathen priest sacrificed upon the idol altar, which 
stood upon this altar of God; and this sacred temple was 
dedicated to the heathen god Jupiter Olympus, and such as 
did wickedly against the covenant were perverted, but the 
promise to Israel then was: ‘^The people that know their God 
shall be strong and do exploits’ and this promise "^a^ ful- 
filled most wonderfully. The faithful, the true, were might- 
ily strengthened, the abomination was swept away, the ene- 


88 


THE DYING LAMP; 


mies of God were swiftly and completely routed. God wrought 
a marvelous deliverance because they trusted in him. The 
God of David, the God of Mattathias, and the God of Judas, 
shall be our God and grant his people deliverance.” 

The enthusiasm was great. “War! war!” was the cry. 
“Buckle on the sword for God and fight his battles.” Prepa- 
rations were secretly made all over the city for open defence 
against Eome. The very priests were so enthusiastic that 
the temple service was actually neglected. The young men 
everywhere armed themselves; and the temple became an 
arsenal. What could be more fitting, than, in this Holy War, 
that the House of Jehovah should be made a fortress and 
strong tower where they could battle for the Lord? 

To the older men, the rich and eminent men, this action 
came like a thunder clap. They foresaw the inevitable and 
dreadful consequences; they were amazed and terrified. 

“My son,” cried Elkanah to Abner, when he learned 
the news, “have you sold your wisdom that you should he 
partner to such folly?” The old man was deeply roused and 
spoke with passion. “We, war with the Romans! They are 
the talents, we but two mites, yea less than a poor farthing. 
Can you not see they will strip us clean of everything before 
they have finished?” 

“Strip us,” answered Abner, heatedly, “Strip us! 
stripped we are already. Are we not stripped of honor in the 
sight of the world, when at the instigation of our tyrants 
the Gentiles publicly brand us as lepers, as they did a little 
while ago at Caesarea? Are we not stripped when Elorus 
comes and coolly takes all the money he wishes from the 
sacred treasury? Are we not stripped, when, because of a 
half hour’s folly of a few thoughtless boys, a despot lets loose 
his godless whelps on unarmed men and helpless women and 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


89 


children in our streets? Are we not stripped of the last shred 
of manliness when we are willing after this to go out and 
shout ^^Hail! Saviors to a hand of cut-throats? I shall 
not hear these things any longer. I will fight first, and die, 
if need he, hut I will not submit.” Ahner folded his arms and 
strode hack and forth in his anger. 

Elkanah that day, with a large concourse of the elders 
of Jerusalem, met in ahject dismay at the Council House that 
abutted on the temple and they took hasty counsel as to the 
best way to save the city. 

Elkanah said: ^'We must have peace at any cost, for 
only by being let alone can we he prospered. If we oppose 
Caesar we lose all our hard-earned wealth. Better give up 
half than he plucked of all.” 

One of the elders said: ^^The Romans were invited into 
the city to help us many years ago. How, they are our divinelv 
appointed rulers. Our only safe policy is to submit, till God, 
in some way, frees us from their yoke.” 

As the wide extent of the sedition was made known the 
grey heads held their breath with amazement, and immediate 
action was advised. ^^Some desperate action must he taken, 
and that to-day, or we are lost,” Ananias the High Priest 
said. ^^We must apply to our rulers to help us asrainst the 
seditious. Better do this than he cut off root and branch.” 

There seemed no other alternative. “If we oppose Rome 
we lose all: if we oppose our children we may save both the 
city and them.” 

Said one: ^Tf we would undo the work of the voung 
men we must conciliate Elorus; and I advise to ask his heln 
to suppress the insurrection.” 

^^hat is my advice,” said Ananias. 

^^ay,” said another, "that would he ignoble. Let us 


90 


THE DYING LAMP; 


ra/ther ask aid of King Agrippa, who has always been our 
friend; he will send us valiant soldiers and their very pres- 
ence will quell the folly of the young men.” 

A vote revealed that the assembly was about equally di- 
vided between the two courses. Many, through fear of what 
Florus would do, if not concilated, voted to ask his help, 
Therefore to please all, it was agreed to ask aid of both 
Agrippa and Florus,* and ambassadors were appointed to be 
despatched in hot haste. 

When the young men heard of this action of their fa- 
thers, their rage was uncontrollable and their fury was like 
the point of their swords, which they instinctively grasped. 
More closely than ever they were bound by oaths, and pledged 
their honor to resist to the death their hated tyrants. 

Abner now avoided his father’s house altogether, but, 
meeting his father face to face in the street, he burst out 
on the grey-headed old man; ^^You vote to send for Florus 
to fight your own sons? For Florus against your own children 
who stand for the holy temple and the God of Israel? T 
will not believe it.” 

Abner, my son,” pleaded the father with tears welling - 
to his eyes, 'Ve seek only the prosperity of the city. Only 
submit and all will be well.” 

The sight of the . crushed spirit softened Abner’s heart 
and without a word turning on his heel he walked away. 

Abner’s indignation was the common feeling among the 
young men. The hearts of the fathers were turned against 
the children and the hearts of the children against their fa- 
thers, and so was initiated the hideous drama of a nation in 
a death-clutch with itself. 

*Jose!phus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 17. (Simon to Florus. Saul and 
Antipas to Agrippa.) 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


91 


CHAPTEE XII. 

JOHX A PEISONEE. 

NTO a dungeon in the Fortress of Antonia John had 
been thrown bruised and bleeding, and with tat- 
tered clothing. ' 

night, commending his life to God he lay down on 
a heap of straw and slept. He was roused to consciousness by 
some one shaking him and calling: ^^John, Ben Amos, Sir, 
awake.” The sleeper was dazed by the flickering lamp and 
as he struggled into wakefulness he realized that Metellus was 
bending over him and that he was in a hare cell. 

^TSToble Metellus, I am not — ” 

^Teace unto you, John, Ben Amos,” and Metellus lifted 
him, sore and stiff, to his feet. ^^You will follow me.” Hot 
knowing what was to happen, hut feeling the friendliness of 
the Tribune, John followed the Tribune and his attendant 
out into the wide court about the main keep, and then into 
the building. Through great halls and up stone stairways 
they passed, till they came to Metellus’ apartments; when, 
dismissing the attendant soldier, Metellus turned to the be- 
wildered prisoner: have received such information con- 

cerning you that it gives me pleasure to treat you not as a 
prisoner, but as a guest. I may not disclose more now, but 
I beg you to receive my hospitality.” 

John could hardly believe it was not all a dream, as, by a 
servant he was led into a luxurious Eoman bath and pro- 
vided with a tunic and white woolen Roman toga, and after 
the bath shown to a sumptuously furnished chamber. The 
floor was of marble mosaic; the walls were hung with brilliant 



92 


THE DYING LAMP; 


tapestries, and a carved couch was ready for his rest. Upon 
it he pondered in astonishment, and could make out no solu- 
tion. The Lord was caring for his servant and that had to 
suffice. 

In the morning Metellus told John that he had received 
word that a number of the Jews had handed together to as- 
sassinate him when he should be released, and that his in- 
formants, Abner and Elthemus, sons of Elkanah, had asked 
that he might remain for a season, under the protection of 
the fortress. John could understand such a request, hut he 
could not explain the royal treatment he had received from 
the first. 

see you are a friend of the family of the wealthy 
Elkanah,^^ observed Metellus. 

John told him his relation to the family. 

Metellus in a casual way, said: met Elkanah’s daugh- 

ter once by accident in the temple with her father. Is she 
not superior to most Jewish maidens?” 

^^Sir,” said John, ^^she is one of the rare r iris of the 
nation.” '' 

This excited Metellus’ curiosity to know Jonn’s relation 
to this rare creature, and by adroit remarks he got these opin- 
ions from his guest: 

"She is the kindest, most affectionate young woman I 
have ever met,” and then again; "I do not know that I have 
ever met her equal in attractiveness,” and then Metellus 
found that "she is conscientious, and capable; far more capa- 
ble than her luxurious manner of life has ever given her scope 
to show; but she is capable of high things if only she were 
put to the test.” 

John imprisoned here in Antonia, now begged the privi- 
lege of preaching the gospel to the cohort; which Metellus 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


93 


freely granted; and often he, himself, would listen to John’s 
words. Once, coming from John’s discourse, they walked 
together up to Metellus’ chamber and sat down, talking 
earnestly on the high subject just considered. 

^‘The Eomans also believe in one Supreme God, Jupiter, 
and Jupiter means Heavenly Father,” said the Tribune. 

^^But,” said J ohn, ^^you and your people believe in multi- 
tudes of gods; our scriptures teach us there is but one true 
God, the Father, manifested in his son Jesus Christ. God 
is not the God of the Jews alone, or the Romans, or Greeks, 
but of all nations.” 

ponder much on these matters and while I have re- 
jected our Roman religion (mere mythology) I perceive at 
least the presence of a universal force in the world.” 

^^That force you speak of, Christ declared to be our 
Father. Jesus the Christ has revealed God to us as a kind, 
loving friend, — as our Father.” 

^^Why should you believe the teaching of this man Jesus 
Christ? I suppose he was one of your philosophers?” 

^^More than that, noble Metellus; he was the very son of 
God. God manifest in the flesh.” 

^^But what evidence have you?” with the air of a Roman 
who is listening to an ancient legend. As if some one should 
repeat the old story that Romulus was the son of a vestal 
virgin Rhea Silva by the god Mars. 

John answered, ^^Because the Christ lived a sinless life; 
because he performed many miracles; because being crucified 
and buried, he rose from the dead, as he said he would do; 
because during all his ministry he claimed to be the son of 
God and Savior of the world.” 

for me,” said Metellus, I have long since given up 
all faith in gods and goddesses and demigods; and nearly all 


94 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


our educated people are in this same state of doubt. I am 
aware the illustrious Julius Caesar sacrificed to the gods be- 
fore the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and on the occasion of 
his triumph climbed the steps from the Forum to the temple 
portal on his knees, as a kind of expiatory service, but he be- 
lieved no more in Jupiter or Mars than I do. Indeed, Sir, 
I have come to believe that this I’orce (you call it God) has 
no personal relation with the world. The teaching of the 
philosopher Epicurus is that the whole universe has always 
existed; not in its present form, but first as dust, — exceeding 
fine dust; and these minute atoms moving in empty space 
began to have motion in one direction and then in another, 
and then began to whirl and adhere together till from a form- 
less mass came forth this order of life.” 

The commander arose and took from a brass bound chest 
a roll: ^Termit me to give you these thoughts in the very 
words of the poet Titus Carus Lucretius who enshrined these 
doctrines of Epicurus in his splendid poem, De Eerum 
Natural 

‘For blindly, blindly and without design 
Did these first atoms their first meetings try. 

No ordinary thought was there; no will 
To guide them; but through infinite time gone by 
Tossed and toirmented they essayed to join 
And clashed through the void space tempestuously, 

Untd at last that certain whirl began 

Which slowly formed the earth and heaven and man/* 

' ^^This, I take it, is the solution of the problem of being. 
Could I see reason for believing as you do, that there is a 
God who is a kind and loving father I should be happy in- 
deed. We seem to be impelled by something, — I may call it 
Fate — an irresistible force that guides us whither we will 
not and cuts us off without reason or remorse. When we die 
that is the end of us.” 


*Wilikinson^s translation. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


95 


^^And often when I have girded me for the battle I have 
calmed my mind with these words (quoting Lucretius from 
memory:) 

‘If you die to-day, you shall lie 
Soothed in sleep that knoiws no morrow; 

Nor cark nor care again betide tbee. 

But thou ahalt say thy long good bye to sorrow/ " 

''I am sure, Ben Amos, there is a sense of comfort in that 
thought/^ The Tribune looked up in the air in a doubtful 
way and drummed with his finger-ends on the table: ^^Still, 
we guess; we may not know. Life to me is an insoluble maze 
of mysteries.” Metellus knew he had an appreciative lis- 
tener; not often did he say so much and it seemed to give 
him relief to unburden his mind to a companion. 

While he had been thus talking, J ohn had been praying 
as he listened. He queried how he might come onto Metel- 
lus’ ground. This flashed on his mind: ^^Cicero’s writings; 
perhaps he has them;” and he immediately said: ^^Among 
your authors you may have Cicero.” 

^'Yes, yes.” 

^^You have Cicero’s ^De Senectute?’ ” 

^^Yes, yes, I have it; you have in mind what he says on 
immortality?” 

^‘That came to me while you were talking.” 

Metellus brought it forth from an oaken chest and 
turned the roll to the place where it reads: ^ Yet., I depart 
from life as from an inn;’ is that the passage you had in 
mind?” 

^^The very one,” said John. 

^Will you not kindly read it, Ben Amos?” and Metellus 
handed him the roll. 

John read: ^^Yet, I depart from life as from an inn, not 
as from a home; for nature has given us here, a lodging for 


96 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Bojourn, not a place of habitation. Oh, glorious day when I 
shall go to that divine company and assembly of souls and 
when I shall depart from this crowd and tumult. I shall go 
not only to the men of whom I have already spoken, but to 
my Cato, than whom no better man was ever born.’’ 

‘TDo you think. Sir,” said John, ‘^this hope of the great 
Ciceros’ is a superstition? Is it not rather the aspiration 
and natural assurance of the soul, bred of itself, an inborn 
spark of an endless life? Is it not a universal instinct in man?” 
Metellus nodded in an abstracted way. And John continued, 
^^Noble Metellus, the uncertain hope of Cicero is a certain 
fact with the Christian, for J esus the Christ has brought life 
and immortality to light. Cicero confesses his doubts', as you 
have done; Jesus Christ was crucified; was buried; but he 
arose and appeared to many here in J erusalem. He ascended 
on high and he said to us: ^Because I live, ye shall live also.’ ” 

John again looked on the roll, but the glance down the 
writing made him pause. 

^^Kead on,” said Metellus. 

think. Sir, that Cicero must have had this very poem 
of Lucretius in mind when he wrote this; you know they were 
contemporary.” 

^^Kead, friend John, read on;” urged Metellus, do not 
recall what follows.” 

But John quietly rolled the parchment together and 
held it and talked. It was this stinging sentence that John’s 
eye had caught: ^‘If I err in believing that souls are im- 
mortal I am glad so to err; nor am I willing that this error 
shall be wrested from me so long as I live. While, if in 
death as some paltry philosophers think, I shall have no con- 
sciousness, the dead philosophers cannot ridicule this delusion 
of mine.” 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


97 


So he rolled the parchment together and held it. 

As they talked, Metellus said: ^‘Life is a very dark 
mystery.” 

“Indeed, Sir, it is until one sees it as disclosed by Jesus 
Christ.” 

During these days Kachel visited her son and Metellus 
was exceedingly gracious to the grand old woman. She in 
turn breathed a benediction on the commander’s head. On 
her return she stopped at Elkanah’s house and gave a most 
glowing description of the Tribune. Elule’s bosom rose and 
fell under her chin as she held her eyes on her needle-work. 

John, in the fortress all those weeks was holding up 
Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord to the soldiers and to the 
candid mind of Metellus, It was a great gain which John 
thanked God for, when, one day Metellus speaking very de- 
liberately, said: “Surely, surely, man needs a Savior.” 


98 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTER XIII. 

REVENGE. 

HAT answer did Florus give the embassy?^’ asked 
Ananias, the High Priest, while the eager council 
bent to catch the answer. 

Ambassador: ‘‘We told him of the perilous condition of 
the city, of the suddenness and size of the sedition; of the 
desire of the great body of citizens and especially of the 
principal men to save the city to the Romans, and asked an 
army to quell the uprising. He listened without a word, and 
then waving his hand, he said: “You are dismissed; return 
to your people.^^ The blanched, open lips of the old men 
hung speechless. Then the opposite party whispered: “Just 
as we expected.’’ The other embassy to Agrippa then re- 
ported: “Agrippa advises immediate action and will send 
immediately three cohorts of cavalry.” 

The very next day one of the cohorts arrived. The 
upper city rises about one hundred feet above the temple site 
and was surrounded by the ancient wall. In it were Agrippa’s 
palace, and as we have shown, hard by it the Xystus, and up 
over the crest of the mount the magnificent palace of Herod 
the Great, and close by that three famous towers, Phasaelis, 
Hippicus, and Mariamne. The newly arrived cohort of caval- 
ry was ordered to be quartered at Agrippa’s palace and the 
court and barracks were soon swarming with men and horses. 
The city wore the. aspect of war. Soon the second and third 
cohorts arrived and clattering into the city were received with 
acclamations. The air was filled with the shouting of troop- 
ers, neighing of horses, and rain of pattering feet. The 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


99 


commanders, Darius and Philip, had supposed that the mere 
presence of such a number of their soldiers would cow the 
seditious, but they little understood the spirit that lived be- 
hind the temple walls. A more resolute band of fanatics and 
patriots never breathed, than Eleazer and the priests and 
Abner and his kind, and the secret band of assassins, among 
whom was Elthemus. These young spirits had gathered 
weapons of every description; swords, bows and arrows, lances 
and armor; and the presence of foreign troops to fight them 
made every man a host. 

When Darius and Philip found the insurgents were not 
immediately intimidated, they ordered an assault on the tem- 
ple walls; but the insurgents fought furiously. Then the 
insurgents became the aggressive party and would suddenly 
throw open the temple gates and rush out with such fury 
that the soldiers could hardly hold their own. This kind of 
warfare continued for about a week. 

In the meantime where was John, whom we left in the 
Fortress of Antonia? Partly moved by the ceaseless pleading 
of Kuth and partly because of natural promptings of gratitude 
toward the man who had saved the life of his idol, Elthemus 
had secretly conveyed John from the fortress, to his own 
house, where Euth and little Paul were, and hidden him in 
an underground chamber, of which we shall soon speak more 
particularly, and was keeping him safe from the daggers of 
the assassins who had taken oath against his life. But Elthe- 
mus himself staid in the temple, with the other insurgents. 
Euth in terror at being left alone with only John in hiding, 
now proposed that they flee to the palace of Agrippa where 
Eachel lived, and where John would be safe surrounded with 
Eoman soldiers. Entering at night, they found the palace 
at once a fortress and hospital. The wounded and dying were 
ILofC. 


100 


THE DYING LAMP; 


lying in all the rooms, and Rachel and her servants were 
dressing wounds as best they conld. John immediately lent 
great help, and soon order grew out of the confusion in 
RacheFs affairs. Little Paul clung continually to him, and 
whenever John had a moments respite he would take the boy 
■up and press him to his bosom and pray that God would spare 
his father s life. Often great tears would fill PauPs eyes and 
he would say: ^These men will kill my Papa; I don^t like 
these men.” 

“We will pray for your papa, my darling.” 

One evening when John was thus holding and trying to 
comfort little Paul, he heard above the usual noises of the 
court, a roar; it sounded at first like the sea surf of the 
Mediterranean that he used to hear, but soon he distinguished 
human yells; they grew louder and plainer. Instantly the 
palace enclosure was the scene of the wildest confusion by 
reason of the shouting of the Centurions, the screaming of the 
women servants inside the palace, and a general rushing 
hither and thither. John, with little Paul still in his arms 
ran to the roof of the palace in the dusk, and looked in the 
direction of the roar; there wo.s a sight indeed. Across the 
great bridge that spanned the Tyropean valley, right below 
the palace, w^as surging out of the great temple gate like an 
angry torrent from a pent up reservoir, a stream of human 
beings, bearing smoking torches, in whose yellow light 
flashed spears and naked swords. Out from the temple gate 
the furious stream kept pouring like a boiling, roaring moun- 
tain torrent. John stood fixed with terror for a moment: 
“They are coming toward the palace.” In a moment he was 
with Rachel and Ruth, calling upon all the servants to follow 
him. “Let us fly!” 

“Where?” 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


101 


^^Any where out of the palace.” Out from a secret pas- 
sage he dragged Euth and carried Paul, as his mother with 
Ben Ananus in one hand and a moaning girl in the other, 
followed behind, through the Xystus. 

^To our house,” cried Euth. 

They fled along with the fleeing multitude, while behind 
them rose a deafening clamor of masses of men in hand-to- 
hand death struggle. 

So unexpected and impetuous was the attack that Darius 
at the palace could not bring his troops to order. The patri- 
ots in one body pressed their way irresistibly through the 
gates. The soldiers turned and fled as they fought. See 
Elthemus, now at the front, sword in hand! Swiftly ahead 
of all the others he leaps up the accustomed stairs at the rear 
of the building. From room to room he flies: ^^Euth! Euth! 
Paul! Paul!” and louder still: ^Taul!” up into the highest 
story and through all the halls, then out on the roof. The 
smoke is beginning to rise in a black column. Down he 
speeds into the vast rooms of the palace proper; men were 
demolishing the statues of Greek art; tearing down rich tapes- 
tries; beating the gold work. Euth was not there, nor Eachel. 
Elthemus had often been through the private passage. He 
knew they would certainly flee by that. The door was open. 
^^Yes, they must have gone out here.” He flew like a wild 
man. ^They would go to my house.” Hurrying by fright- 
ened fugitives, he ran sword in hand. He sees ^‘"them.” 
Quickly sheathing his weapon he snatched his boy from 
John’s arms and crying: ^^To father’s,” he sped before 
them. 

A great pillar of black smoke rose and rolled eastward 
over the temple. The beauty, the luxury, the wealth of 
Agrippa, who basely advised submission to Eome, was now 


102 


THE DYING LAMP; 


ascending in the flames of a vast crackling bon-fire.* The 
exultant patriots looked with a fierce joy at the sight and were 
nerved to drive out the foreign intruders. Back they pressed 
up through the streets till they reached the gates of Herod’s 
palace. Even then they would have cut them in pieces had 
not Metellus with his freshly arrived cohorts beaten them 
back. Then the patriots turned. 

Where is the traitor Ananias? WTiere is Elkanah? 
Where are the elders?” The men were now bent 
on putting to the sword all the elders who had 
sent the embassy. A mighty rush was made for the High 
Priest’s palace; the doors were broken in, — ^the mob swept 
through it;' but Ananias was not to be found. ^‘Burn it! burn 
it!” was now the cry; and in a few moments the smoke was 
pouring out, blackening the Hebrew letters of the scripture 
passages sculptured in the marble lintels over the lofty door- 
ways; and soon all the rich treasures within, were being 
destroyed. The heat of the vandal spirit was now up. The 
worst elements among the patriots, (the Assassins) now moved 
with loud yells toward the public edifice where were kept the 
records of all real estate and other legal transactions, such as 
deeds, mortgages, contracts between debtors and creditors. 
Many of the Assassins were in debt. ^^Burn the records!” they 
cried in the madness of mob frenzy; then they would be out 
of debt, then they would be free men. The building was 
deserted of all its rightful occupants, and quickly from their 
hiding places valuable parchments, tablets, boxes of ancient 
records of priceless value, were brought forth and burned in 
the street along with the deeds and mortgages of recent date. 
In one short hour every scratch and sign, of every important 
legal transaction done in the city of Jerusalem and many 
^Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 17. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


103 


of them preserved sacredly for many centuries, were obliter- 
ated. 

But where were the high offenders? Now it happened 
that the three brothers, the sons of Elkanah, had each inde- 
pendently thought of his sister while the mob was looting the 
public buildings. Elthemus had cried: “To father’s!” 
solely because Elule was there defenceless. Gad had come 
his sword in hand; and at last Abner; when Elule saw Abner, 
she merely fell on his neck and wept convulsively. “Where 
is father?” demanded Abner. 

“I don’t know; he is not here.” 

“He is wise,” murmured Abner. And when the mob 
clamored at the gate Abner met them sword in hand. 

“Where is the traitor, Elkanah?” “Deliver us your 
father.” 

“He is not here,” said Abner, “Pass on!” 

This determined front of one of their leaders checked 
them. 

“We will search for him,” some cried. 

“I solemnly swear,” said Abner, “he is not here. Pass on! 
No one enters this door while I stand here. Brethren pass 
on!” 

The hindermost tried to cry him down and press the 
others forward; they knew Abner as one of the foremost 
patriots, and while behind him in the glare of their torches 
they could see men with naked swords, chiefly out of respect 
for their leader who now firmly withstood them, the mob 
moved away. The tension of feeling of the inmates of 
the house was indescribable while the mob surged down the 
street; but when they found they were safe there was weep- 
ing and silent prayer. But, “Where is father?” That was 
the one question now, and immediately the sons would have 


104 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


started in search^ had it been safe to leave the house, or if 
there had been any hope of finding him. 

The fact was, when the onset was made, Elkanah was 
conferring with his friends, some of the principal men of the 
city, at the palace of the High Priest, and instantly at the 
sound of the sally they had fied np to the palace of Herod 
the Great. There were the two cohorts of Agrippa and there 
they would he safe. But had it not been for the valiant 
aid of Metellus, as we have seen, even that stronghold would 
have fallen before the patriots; then Elkanah would surely 
have been slain. However, the aged man did not realize all 
this. That night Metellus and his cohort occupied the tower 
of Hippicus hard by the palace of Herod. 

At the house, Elfchemus was well aware that John’s pres- 
ence endangered the lives of the entire company. He knew 
too well the fierce blood-thirstiness of the secret hand with 
whom he was connected. Had John shown his head when 
the three brothers confronted the marauders there would 
have been no stopping their fury. So on that same night, — 
at the dead of night, Elthemus accompanied John to his own 
house and hid him again safely in his underground chamber. 

Part of the City of Jerusalem was honey-combed with 
vaults and cisterns and subterranean rooms. Some of these 
were of very ancient date. In Elthemus’ house in one of 
the rear rooms were a couple of broad, flat stones in the stone 
floor. Elthemus had often remarked their peculiar appear- 
ance among the other flat stones, and long ago from mere 
curiosity had pried up one of the heavy slabs, and to his 
astonishment found an empty space underneath. He first let 
down a light and found a shaft, five feet across, in the solid 
rock. By a rope he descended to explore and found the shaft 
dry and about twenty-five feet deep. At the bottom he nicked 













.■ TPM'-' 



* 'I *■ Air* f 







^1 



■^ip 


' ^ * 


^ t 


' * ^ 



JIm; .« » 


.'f 


. n 



i 


' -v 

‘ :'• ’ w- t ;► 

' • ^ . > * -^ . ■ 

«vvw - fcf ^ ^ 

- 4 }-^y 

yst ^ ■«-' el’ll* '• 

jg >»•'■ 



^ 3*1 




4! 


< • 




f“^ A 



r^rJ i.i- 


k .r I 


#• ■• \ 



if * < 




r ? ' ‘ V >■ *' ’< ji?* • ^ * 

k'*> *•' ,*svjk *•%•■ V - 

' H'. i#IS',5>'J>'>t5 • ‘ • 


■ V l5R-f - » . ‘i-' ■><; * ’ 

m .mx. 


• ‘ ‘H*! 



* 4 


I-' 


< *. ?• I * v< 


f“^. 


-* 4 . 





THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


105 


up a few rusty pieces of iron and a staff of oak, smooth and 
well preserved. In looking about he noticed about five feet 
from the bottom a worn appearance of the rock on one side, 
and then perceived that a slab of rock about four feet square 
was set into the side of the shaft. Carefully he pried this 
out and behold: a dark chamber, about fifteen feet long by 
eleven wide, on the dry floor of which were pieces of pottery 
and yellow dry rags, and grains of wheat scattered about. 
In the ceiling of the chamber was an aperture, a foot and a 
half long and six or seven inches wide, and looking up he saw 
a faint light. He greatly wondered at this as he had never 
seen any corresponding opening in the court or house above. 
Ascending, he had found, that, built into the wall, was a flue 
which ran up to the parapet on the roof and opened into the 
transverse tiles that ornamented the parapet, in such a way 
that no one would ever bo likely to suspect its presence. This 
flue was the cause of the freshness and dryness of the air 
which at first astonished him. Elthemus found no treasures 
there. Never had he lisped a word to any one but Euth about 
this discovery. In this chamber he was intending to hide his 
father if worst came to worst, and now he took John there 
and secured him with plenty of water and provision. 

Eeturning to the house of his father he found all the 
family agitated still with one question: ^^Where is father?^’ 


106 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTEK XIV. 

A WOMAN’S DEED. 

OR three long weeks the patriots making the Temple 
their base of operations, held the city as in a state 
of siege. For three long weeks, Elkanah, without 
any communication from his family, was hidden behind the 
walls of Herod’s palace. For three weeks, Rachel, and Ruth, 
and Elule and all the family were isolated from the world, 
and for three weeks Elthemus made periodic visits from the 
Temple to his family at his father’s house and to John in his 
rock chamber. But one day,= — the 15th day of the month 
Ah (our July- August) was a day long to be remembered by 
the Elkanah family. Metellus, the day or two after he had 
occupied the tower of Hippicus, saw from its parapet that 
what he had deemed an impossibility was actually accom- 
plished by the furious insurgents. The fortress Antonia with 
its little handful of defenders whom he had left behind, was 
being taken. From the top of the lofty tower of Hippicus, 
he heard the shouting of war as thousands assaulted the 
mighty masonry. To his astonishment they had gained en- 
trance, and soon a black, thick column of smoke arose above 
its walls, and then the flames leaped up about one and then 
another of its four towers, the upper parts of which were 
wood, and there, a hundred and twenty-five feet high in the 
air, the angry flames curled above Jerusalem. To go now, 
to the rescue, would be sheer folly, for tens of thousands that 
had driven him into Hippicus, were still besieging him and 
Agrippa’s generals who were behind the walls of Herod’s 
palace. It was a terrible and humiliating sight to the Roman. 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


107 


The destruction of the fortress with its magnificent interior 
of marble columns and luxurious apartments was nothing to 
the Eoman; but the thought that the little handful of his men 
had perished, while he was still alive, weighed mightily on him. 
Even Darius and Philip with their three cohorts, or rather, 
what was left of them, dared not move from the palace walls 
against their furious besiegers. The situation was becoming 
exceedingly grave. Metellus was imprisoned in the tower of 
Hippicus with comparatively little provision. The days went 
by. Three weeks went by as we have seen with the patriot 
party in possession of the city. Eations had got low. In fact, 
the soldiers had nothing now to eat, although water in the 
great tank of the tower was abundant. The numbers of the 
patriots were swelling daily and having broken into Herod^s 
armory at Masada, they were thoroughly equipped with weap- 
ons. They were now undermining the walls of the palace by 
long tunnels; the besieged saving themselves only by building 
an inner wall. Darius and Philip were convinced that they 
could not hold out much longer and offered to surrender if 
they should be allowed safe passage from the city. What 
was Metellus^ astonishment therefore, on the 12th day of the 
month Ah, to see the remnants of the three cohorts of cavalry, 
without conferring with him, peacefully file out of the palace 
hard by and then out of the city amid the wild rejoicings of 
the insurgents. What remained for him to do, left in this das- 
tardly way to his fate? There was but one course — surrender 
— and ask safe conduct from the city. Without arms, Agrip- 
pa^s cohorts had filed peacefully out. The Tribune was driven 
to desperation as he took counsel over an absolutely hopeless 
case. On the 14th day of Ah he signified a desire to treat 
with the leaders of the patriot army. The hands of Eleazer, 
and of Abner, and of Gorion, and of Judas, patriot leaders. 


108 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


were given in token of good faith that he and his cohort 
should he permitted safe passage from the city on condition 
that on the next day, the 15th of Ah, they should lay down 
their arms. 

Through the whole city the tidings flew like wild Are. At 
last Jerusalem was to he rid, and forever, of its oppressors. 
The patriots had conquered, and the patriot sentiment was 
universal. 

The morning of the 15th of Ah rose clear and beautiful. 
The whole city, apparently, was gathered to see the Anal 
humiliation of the enemy. The roofs of the houses were varie- 
gated with the holiday costumes of swarms of women; the 
streets were packed with men, women and children. On the 
evening before, as Abner so confldently told the story of the 
flnal victory to the whole household at his father’s house, he 
did not dream of the agitation in his sister’s heart. Little 
did he think that strong tides of hope and fear, of love and 
duty were moving hack and forth in her breast, and through 
the long night would stir her with sleepless excitement as 
she was brought face to face with Metellus’ departure. 

Everybody was going to see the act of surrender, and 
Elule and Euth walked up too. With the crowd they passed 
through the Gate Gennath into the beautiful court, of the 
palace of Herod. It was swarming with people. The walls 
were alive; the tower of Mariamne that rose nearly four score 
feet at their right as they passed on to Hippicus, was swarm- 
ing and bubbling over with joyful patriots. The 
tower of Phasaelis, a lofty fortress lifting its height 
one hundred and sixty-seven feet into the air, was 
occupied with expectant multitudes looking from 
every platform and aperture and from the high battle- 
ments. About the open space in front of the great tower of 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


109 


Hippieus near the vallej; gate, were gathered the armed hands 
of patriots. There was Abner in full armor at the head of his 
hand, while standing out before them all was Eleazer, the 
warlike priest. Elthemus was there and so was Gad. Elule 
kept drawing Ruth and little Paul nearer and nearer to where 
Abner stood. Her eyes were fixed on the great arched portal 
of Hippicus, when, at the appointed hour Metellus stepped 
forth, followed by his cohort in full armor. Still proudly, in 
spite of his humiliation, the arching crest waved over his 
helmet and noble face, and with a manly Roman air he stood 
forth and gave his orders. Elule saw no one else, although 
she was aware that men were marching and dressing into 
line and forming in array. “Shall I never see him again 
The tears came to her eyes in spite of herself. “The noble 
Metellus” as John called him in his sincere praise of the 
Roman, ^^e is all that he seems to be,” she thought, “andf 
I cannot help loving him.” As she stood, the conviction that 
he was the one who had saved all their lives by placing 
guards on their street when Florus^ troops were looting the 
city, came with great clearness to her mind. Her fat^her 
had suspected this to be the explanation of their deliverance, 
but thought it a personal favor to himself as a sympathizer 
of Rome. “He saved us all because he loved me,” she said 
to herself. 

When the legionaries had formed into line she heard 
Metellus give the order to disarm, and saw him advance into 
the open space and pass his sword to Eleazer. At the order 
the first maniple advanced and laid down pike and sword 
and shield in the open space on the pavement; then the 
second did the same, and so on through the eight maniples 
of the cohort. That was a huge pile of good, bioad swords 
and iron pointed pikes and tough cowhide shields that was 


THE DYING LAMP; 


110 

formed in that semi-circle. The soldiers had now taken their 
places and were about to march from the city through the 
valley gate by the tower of Hippicus, when some fiendish 
spirit, recalling the awful massacre of Florus, yelled out: ^^He 
sent for Florus; kill them! kill!’^ There was a sudden move- 
ment; then, a thousand yells and a rush, and like savage wild 
beasts those infuriated fathers and brothers fell upon the 
unarmed, immovable soldiers and began an indescribable mas- 
sacre. The multitude was transfixed with the horrible fascina- 
tion of blood. Swiftly with drawn swords and loud threats, 
Eleazer, and G-orian, and Abner, and Judas, who had given 
the right hand of honor to Metellus, tried to stay the torrent. 
Swiftly to Metellus’ side Abner and others flew, and were 
striking valiantly against their own men, shouting their com- 
mands and turning the tide from the Tribune to the unguarded 
ranks of the cohort. The Eoman soldiers died, not like sheep 
huddled together, but every man in his place, flghting cold 
steel with naked hands; so they fell, looking their murderers 
full in the face with high contempt, calling on their gods to 
avenge the dastardly crime. The mob was making quick 
work. The pavement was piled deep with dying bodies and 
the mob was closing round the little knot of patriot leaders 
that circled the unarmed Metellus. Elule could no longer 
restrain herself; she had not perceived that she was left al- 
most alone by the women who had fled in terror; she did not 
know that Ruth and little Paul were gone, she only saw the 
unequal struggle for life. She lost herself; she forgot she 
was a mere woman; she did not stop to think she had no 
weapon; but, flying over the heaps of dead and dying, and 
through the gaps among the still struggling, in danger at 
every leap, she reached the group her eyes had fastened on. 
Turning and squarely facing the butchers she threw up her 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


Ill 


empty hands and cried out shrilly, clearly and passionately: 
^^'Has the Jew no honor?” The words rang out, as she stood 
there, her whole form quivering and her face flashing with a 
love-born courage, as she looked the murderers in the eye: 
^^Has the Jew no honor?” Men stood astonished and dropped 
their swords. They looked from her to their leaders behind 
her, — ^true and patriotic men who were standing for their 
word, and a sense of shame seemed to spread from the woman, 
and they faltered and began to fall back. As they fell back, 
the noble band about Metellus, with Elule all facing the mur- 
derers, slowly drew back into the portal of Hippicus. Quickly 
the gates were closed. With the exception of their Tribune 
the cohort had been swept from the earth to a man.* 

Eome^s wantonness in blood had for once been paid in 
kind, but not even yet, in degree. That was a wild orgie of 
murder, but the helpless cries of three thousand dying wives 
and children and brothers and sons still rang in the ears of 
those patriots and they were but carrying out the natural law 
of retaliation — ‘^An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” 
True, Metellus^ cohort had not done the massacring. The 
Syrian and Samaritan fiends of Florus who had ravaged and 
robbed and slain, were at that hour quietly enjoying the soft 
breezes from the Mediterranean in the City of Caesarea, but 
the patriots never forgot that but for Metellus, the news of the 
insult to Florus would never have reached his ears. When 
the great leaves of the gate of Hippicus closed, a sigh of 
relief rose from the valiant group, and Metellus instinctively 
turned toward his strange defender. Their eyes met, full, for 
an instant; they spoke not a word. Abner turned toward 
his sister with an exclamation of astonishment, when Elule 
threw herself into his arms and burst forth with uncon- 


'*Josephus. Bk. 2. Chap. 17 — latter part. 


112 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


trolled weeping. Trembling, she clung to her brother’s neck, 
her face against his polished but bespattered breastplate, and 
her tears flowed down the iron. For a moment not a word 
was spoken. When Metellus, taking the hands of Eleazer, 
and Gorian, and Judas said with a deep voice that trembled 
with emotion: ^^Sirs, I now know there are noble Jews to 
whom the pledge of honor is as sacred as to a Eoman. I 
would not have chosen to have escaped the fate of my cohort, 
but to you. Sir, and you, and you, and you (taking them by 
the hand) I am indebted for my life. You, at least, are not 
responsible for this outrage, — an outrage which has plucked 
from me — Metellus stopped short. Mighty feelings were 
struggling with his will for the mastery. Then his eye turned 
and followed Abner who was bearing aloft up the wide stairs 
the woman who had risked her life for him. Weeping con- 
nilsively, she went up, clinging to her brother. 

When Abner returned he found Metellus alone with 
Gorian, as the other leaders had gone out of the gate to the 
scene of blood to order the burial of the dead. Metellus 
asked: ^^Can I, Sir, have the privilege of thanking the bold 
and noble daughter of Elkanah who risked her life for the 
honor of her nation and for the life of a stranger?” 

do not understand this,” said Abner, ^flt is not like 
my sister. I will go up with you when she is recovered.” 

What a day that was in Jerusalem! What a whetting 
of the morbid thirst for blood it gave to the young men of 
the patriot army and to Jewish boys. What a multitude of 
women who had fled at the flrst sight of the carnival of 
death, now stretched their necks to view the ghastly heaps; 
and the story of Elule flew from lip to lip. 

Oh, J erusalem, little by little you are laying up for your- 
self wrath against the day of wrath! In the course of the 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


113 


day, Eltkemus and Gad had been admitted to leam about 
Elule, and they were sitting talking with her when Abner 
entered the chamber accompanied by the Tribune. She was 
seated in a Eoman chair and, lifting up her eyes, rose as 
Metellus came forward. 

^TElule, my sister, the noble Metellus tells me he has met 
you once.^^ 

Metellus advanced, and gently taking her slightly 
extended hand he dropped on his knee and reverently kissed 
the palm: ^^To this hand, especially, I owe my life and to 
do the service of this hand henceforth, I gladly pledge the 
honor of a Eoman.^^ 

Though horn of honor, the words had a strange, inexpli- 
cable sound to all the brothers. The presence of the three 
brothers prevented the stirring of feeling or any exhibition 
of love, and quietly Metellus and Elule sat and talked, till 
Abner again asked: , 

^^My sister, how could you possibly have dared even to 
remain, after the killing commenced 

stayed,” she answered quietly, ^^because I loved the 
Tribune.” 

There was a dead pause and the three brothers looked at 
each other, and at her, and at the Tribune, in dumb astonish- 
ment. 

^^Sirs,” said Metellus, breaking the freezing silence, 
never met your sister but once and when accompanied by her 
father, as I have said, in the temple court; hut when I met 
her I loved her and have loved no other.” 

Metellus then told the entire story of the correspondence 
after the introduction by Elkanah; of the delicate and wom- 
anly reserve of Elule in her letters; of the return of the arm- 
let. ^‘You may know I loved her when I stationed my guard 


114 


mE DYING LAMP; 


above your house on the day of the massacre when Florus’ 
troops were let loose on the city. It was for her sake, indeed, 
I did it, but your property and perhaps the life of your father 
and others of your family besides her, were preserved. I only 
mention this as a partial explanation of my words.” 

Notwithstanding this astonishing revelation there arose 
in Abner’s mind such a conflict of emotions, such question- 
ings of the consequences, and such a touch of jealousy that he 
stood in silence. 

Elthemus broke the silence: ^^You are acquainted, with 
father; could you tell us anything about him, have you seen 
him lately?” 

am sure,” said Metellus, saw Turn with other emi- 
nent men, leave the valley gate on the evening before the 
cohorts of Agrippa deserted me.” 

^^My duty calls me,” said Abner, ‘^and shall I place the 
noble Tribune in safety?” 

Metellus rose and kissing Elule’s hand again, followed 
Abner. 


THB GLORIOUS DAWN. 


116 


CHAPTER XV. 

ELKAXAH. 

OMELEiSS, hunted like wild beasts, Elkanah, and 
Judas the son of Jonathan, with the aged High 
Priest, Ananias, and his brother Hezekiah, were 
hiding in a cave in the mountains directly west of Jerusalem. 

Early on the first morning they perceived the form of a 
lad peering curiously into the cave, as his nibbling sheep 
spread themselves about the entrance. 

Ananias called: ^Teace to you, my son; can you fetch 
us some bread and water? we will repay thee;” advancing 
he placed in his hand a coin. 

The wondering lad departed and in time brought a 
basket of bread and also a cruise of water. The rich garments 
of the strangers and their venerable appearance and religious 
ceremonies; washing before they ate, even with the scanty 
water, filled the hoy with awe. He sat in the entrance while 
the company breakfasted. 

Then Elkanah: “My lad, do you know any more secure 
hiding place? Is there not hereabout a tomb or dry cistern 
where we could remain for a few days?” 

The lad thought a moment. “RahBis, no man ever comes 
here. I watch my flock on this hillside day and night.” 

“But, should an enemy search for us, there would be no 
escape here. We will give you money to hide us more care- 
fully,” said the High Priest. 

^Tlabhis, the hole in the Dragon’s Fountain would hide 
you, but it is cold; you could not stay there.” He meant the 
acqueduct that ran into the pool of Hezekiah. 



116 


THE DYING LAMP; 


^Tlave you been in it^ is the water deep?” 
have crawled far in it before now.” 

As Elkanah held a golden shekel above the boy: ^^Nay, 
Eabbi, I will hide you without money.” 

^^Take it. Its value is above five-hundred gerahs. We 
wish you now to give us food.” 

One day at noon the lad had gathered his panting flock 
about the cave when he saw in the distance three men, 
searching about. Oiving them the alarm, the aged men con- 
cealed themselves behind the rocks within. 

^^Ho, there you fellow! have you seen any old men 
around here?” 

The boy started as if he had been dozing, while the flocks, 
scrambling to their feet, scurried away. Immediately the 
shepherd began calling back his flock and then drawled out: 
“Said you? Is somebody lost?” 

“That old priest has friends about the country” growled 
one man to his fellow; “He likely is now hid in yonder vil- 
lage,” turning their backs to the cave and looking down the 
valley. Then they departed down the mountain. 

When they were out of sight, Ananias the High Priest 
said: “The blessing of the God of Israel on you, my lad! 
You are sent by the Lord to deliver his servants; take us this 
night to the Fountain.” 

However Elkanah and Judas demurred from this plan; 
so that night the lad piloted the High Priest and Hezekiah 
only, to the pool and led them far into the high arched 
acqueduct that runs from Dragon's Fountain, or pool of Gihon, 
into the pool of Hezekiah, within the city walls. The youth 
was hurrying back up the steps of the pool bearing with him 
a cruise of water, when half a dozen men with torches sud- 
denly appeared as he reached the top. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


117 

I 

“Ho! What are, you doing here at this time of night?” 
they shouted, as they laid rough hands on him. 
was getting water.” 

^‘Who are you?” 

“A shepherd, my sheep are yonder.” 

^Who knows,” said one, ^^ut we shall find them in the 
acqueduct, — ^the water is low.” 

They let the trembling lad go and marched down the 
steps, and came to the mouth of the aqueduct. 

^TIo! you traitor Ananias,” one shouted at random, 
loudly, into the acqueduct. 

“Go in and see,” said another. 

For a moment the lad was petrified with horror; he then 
turned and ran for his life. But hark! There is the sound 
of shouting! He turned and looked hack from the brow of 
the hill. In that midnight stillness he could hear every word 
of that tragedy. The pleadings of the age,d men — ^the offer 
of heavy ransom — ^the blasphemy and curses in response. By 
the flickering lights he saw the dreadful deed there at the 
top of the steps of the pool, as the aged men sank in death 
to the ground.* 

“Would the murderers follow him? Ho; they are return- 
ing to the city after hiding the bodies. Swiftly, tremblingly, 
he ran to the cave. The two men there were evidently asleep; 
the sheep lay disposed about just as he left them. He would 
not say a word till morning. But he could not sleep; he sat 
shivering with the shock, when he saw lights again, now, 
coming up the hill. He knew not what to do. It was plainly 
another searching party. Creeping up over the ledge, above 
the cave, he crawled off swiftly into the darkness. There 
were two men. Said one to the other as he came up: 

Vosephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 17. 


118 


THE DYING LAMP; 


'^See! there is a cave, perhaps he is hidden there/^ 

They came nearer, scattering the awakened sheep, as the 
two clambered over the loose stones to the level in front of 
the cave. 

^^Where is the shepherd?” 

^^May be he fled.” 

“May he he is in the cave.” 

They entered, lifting their torches above their heads 
and peering about; pushing to the further end, they found 
the two sleeping bodies and gave a shout which awakened 
the terrified sleepers. 

“Spare, for God’s sake, spare! Mercy !> I give ransom; 
only—” 

“Father! Father!” Elthemus was shaking the aged man 
and trying to bring him to his senses. “Father, it’s I; Elthe- 
mus, and Gad.” 

“Oh! oh! God help! God help!” cried the aged, terri- 
fied men sinking back in a collapse. 

When the aged men were sufficiently recovered to walk, 
the sons blew out their torches and in the darkness made their 
way to the city gate. At a secret signal, for now the city 
was under the control of the patriot party, the four were 
admitted and hurried by the guard in the darkness but run- 
ning a frightful risk. At last without mishap or without 
arousing suspicion they reached and entered Elthemus’ house. 

John was soon made aware that he was to have them as 
company in his retreat. Once in, Elthemus and Gad told 
their father about the massacre. Gad said: 

^Tor the first time in a hundred years we are free.” 

^^ay,” said Elkanah shaking his grey head and clasping 
his long hands dejectedly, “the word is not freedom; it is 
doom, doom.” 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


119 


When the sons were gone, Elkanah gave way to his 
despondency. All his losses and trials passed before him as 
he walked back and forth in that little chamber, in almost 
speechless agony. At last, John ventured: 

^Tather Elkanah, I have found this promise a comfort to 
me since I have been shut up here: ^Who is there among you 
that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant, 
that walketh in darkness and hath no light, let him trust in 
the name of the Lord and stay upon his God.’ ” 

^^Alas!” said Elkanah, cannot trust; so black, so hope- 
less!” He sank down against the wall, while between his 
quivering lips whistled the long sighs of utter despair; but he 
was unconscious of the sounds. 


120 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTEK XVI. 

SOME OPIOTOXS. 

HE three brothers are alone in one of the rooms of 
the tower of Hippicns; above them in a well fur- 
nished chamber is the guarded prisoner, Metellus. 

Abner: Judas Maccabeus! she shall never marry 

Metellus. Should he vow his faith in Jehovah this day; con- 
sent to circumcision, and become a proselyte he shall never 
take her to wife. Wealthy? Elthemus, you dishonor our 
Hebrew blood!” 

Elthemus: ^^Our losses have been great; a goodly sum 
from him would suit us all well.” 

Abner: ^^Shall Elule disgrace the high-hom family of 
Elkanah by marrying a proselyte? Never!” 

Gad: ^^A heathen is a dog before he becomes a prose- 
lyte, and after he becomes one he is a leper.” 

Abner: ^^The word is true, even according to the doc- 
trine of the Eahhis.” 

Gad: ^^But was not Poppea, the wife of Nero, a Hebrew? 
You told us that, by the gate.” 

Abner: '^She? She was only a proselyte. But our sis- 
ter is a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Let us never forget that 
her blood flows from Sarah, and Reheckah, and Rachel, an 
untainted stream for nearly two thousand years.” 

Gad: ^^The Assassins will creep in here soon and end the 
trouble anyway.” 

Abner: ^^The accursed order will he disappointed. By 
the word of God, Metellus shall he set free; and once out he 
will never return.” 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


121 


Above, in his lonely chamber overlooking the scene of 
the butchery, walked Metellns alone. 

^^One of the noblest, most courageous women I ever met; 
more Roman than Jew, indeed a typical Roman maiden. By 
Jupiter! she reminds me more and more of the high born 
ladies of Rome. But her brother's jealousy! that’s in the 
way. I know the only condition of making her mine. I turn 
Jew? \and go back to Rome and become the laughing stock 
of the world? and have the finger nointed at me from every 
street corner: ^Curtus! Yerpus!’* By the gods, T should 
never live at Rome. At Antioch or Ephesus? ’twould be 
the same; a tax on my head as if I were a vile-born Jew. Yea, 
the Jews themselves, accursed race, woitM curl their lips aud 
say: Troselytus et paederasta!’ Where could I live? Bv 
Yenus! if I had her I could be happy at the very confiues of 
earth. What separates us? hTothing but custom — ^bigotry! 
I have no faith to lose; gods and goddesses are only a name 
to me. One God? yes, yes; there is one God, as that Chris- 
tian John says. This, I do believe; and what separates us 
but a form, — a rite, worth no more than any mummery of 
superstition.” 

At home lying on her rich divan, Elule was alone to her 
thoughts: ^^They will send him away and they think I 
shall never see him more. Abner thinks my love will die 
when he is gone; but it will never die. Though he goes 
to Rome, my heart will follow him. Let him go; he would 
be killed if he remained here. What good is it to me that 
I love him? Let him go! only so that he is safe. I can 
at least know that my Metellus still lives somewhere. Esther 
was wedded to Ahasuerus, a Persian, a gentile, and Mordecai 
consented to it; why not I to Metellus? But Abner and my 


*A vile epithet. 


122 


THE DYING LAMP; 


father would not consent/’ These thoughts and the remem- 
brance of her father made her tears to silently course down. 

Little Paul now came running in and scrambling up 
kissed both her cheeks, as she folded him to her bosom. 

don’t like to, see my Auntie cry. Oranma says, J esus 
carries our — our — ^burdens; he carries all Glranma’s, — she says 
so. Won’t he take yours?” 

Through her blinding tears she kissed her little com- 
forter again and again. 

When John heard through Elthemus that the Tribune 
was to take his departure he wrote an earnest letter of 
exhortation and farewell, and also thanks for all the com- 
mander’s kindness; in a few words he finally set forth Jesus 
as the only Savior. 

At the tower of Hippicus, Eleazer and Abner have 
entered the Tribune’s chamber: 

‘^We will escort you to the City of Caesarea. We both, 
attended by trusty men, will guard you forth this very night 
at midnight.” 

Should Metellus, the noble-born Eoman ask a favor of 
Abner, one of the despised people? He stooped to do it. 

^^Noble Abner, son of Elkanah, I have a parting request. 
^Tlere is a signet ring which I obtained in Egypt,” (the 
Tribune took it off his finger). It was a curious piece of the 
goldsmith’s art and very ancient. It had a square revolving 
bezel on which were graved three serpents intertwined. The 
only remembrance he now possessed after the pillage of the 
fortress Antonia. With his clear eye he looked Abner 
straight in the face. Abner ground his teeth: 

^^Shall I curse him!” he thought. ^^Hever will I carry 
this thing to my sister. I will tell him that the noblest 
Eoman is but the spittle of God; — ^but he is my guest and 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


m 


now he goes from ns never to return.” Quick as thot^ht all 
this passed through Abner’s mind as Metellus drew the signet 
ring and then continued: 

^TTour sister Elule has put me under an obligation which 
I shall never forget, and if at any time I can he of service to 
her, or to her father’s family, I shall do it as I would to 
myself. Will you also kindly carry this message: ^Metellus, 
the Tribune, will never forget her.’ ” 

Abner took the ring and answered: ^^The request of 
the noble Metellus shall he granted;” and placed it on his 
own finger. That night, when under strong guard Metellus 
mounted as were the others, had passed beyond the city gate 
he reined in his horse a little and glanced hack at the dark 
wall whose outline bristling with, towers, seemed to breathe 
defiance, and said to himself, ^Tor this deed of the 15th day 
of Ah there is coming a day of recompense, for Kome never 
forgets and never forgives. I shall return and when these 
walls crumble as they will surely crumble, then, I will deliver 
her. Elule, sweet, noble heart, thou hast stolen the love of a 
Eoman. I do not know why I have loved thee so ever 
since I first looked on thee, but thy face goes with me and 
thy womanly spirit encourages me to my highest bent. May 
John’s God direct us, and by his help may we see one an- 
other again.” 

The journey was made without damage or incident until 
the middle of the next day, when they met fugitives from 
Caesarea bearing bundles on foot, or driving donkeys or flee- 
ing on camels. They learned exciting news; a massacre of 
Jew? of Caesarea had been perpetrated; thousands of men, 
women and children had been butchered. Twenty thousand 
was the actual number.* As the escorting party pushed on, 

* Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 18. 


124 


THE DYING LAMP; 


the groups became more numerous and the distress height- 
ened. In view of these things, Metellus advised his guard 
to let him finish the journey alone. 

Swiftly the escort returned to Jerusalem hearing the 
fearful tidings which would fan the fires of patriotism to a 
white heat: ^^The Eomans permitted the Gentile -populace 
to murder our people.^^ 

Arrived at his home, Abner flung the ring on the floor 
at his sister’s feet: ^^Take the ring, snakes and all and let us 
never see them again. By the throne of the Almighty, my 
sister, rid yourself of your accursed passion.” 

Long weeks after this he deigned to repeat the mes- 
sage of Metellus to Elule. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


CHAPTEK XVII. 

WARS AXD RUMORS OF WARS. 

HE war feyer in the City of Jerusalem now rage(f 
more fiercely every day, and the heat was increased 
by fugitives coming in from different parts of the 
country. Desperate men also came with them and many 
members of the secret Order of the Dagger. Scenes of rob- 
bery and violence became more and more frequent; and 
because the duties of the patriot army called off the brothers 
a great part of the time, and as unguarded houses were no 
longer safe, Abner and Elthemus agreed that Rachel and 
Elule and Ruth and little Paul should be taken to Elthemus^ 
house; in case of danger they could take refuge in the sub- 
terranean chamber. So they were removed thither in broad 
day light. The men and women servants left behind, kept 
Elkanah^s sumptuous house under the supervision of Abner 
and Gad, who still made it a home. The rock chamber under 
Elthemus’ house was now used by the inmates only as a 
sleeping place. John, and Elkanah, and Judas becoming 
used to the situation and not being discovered by the patriot 
party came up out of their dungeon during the day; so that 
when the four women arrived, the company was quite a happy 
one, and all rejoiced that again they could live together; 
Elthemus confidently assuring them that soon things would 
move on as before, after this little disturbance had settled 
down. The men were very careful not to show themselves 
in the court or on the house-top in daylight, for fear of 
being seen from the other houses; but when darkness covered 
the city they walked out in the air and some times even 
slept on the roof. 



126 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Eachel saw as the days went on that Elnle was using 
all her will to conquer, her disappointment, and she judged 
that the growing quietness of her spirit, and the paleness 
of her beautiful face, was not entirely owing to the strain 
which was taxing them all. One afternoon just before sun- 
down, as they were seated on mats on the flat roof, Elule 
leaned wearily against the battlement and let both her hands 
fall listless in her lap: 

suppose I ought not to feel as I do, hut it seems I 
cannot help it.^’ They had been talking about Metellus and 
Elule had opened her heart; it gave her a great relief to 
talk with Eachel. Eachel now drew her mat close to Elule 
and the weary young woman pillowed her head heavily in 
Eachel’s lap, and lay panting as if she was just resting 
from hard labor. Eachel drew the long heavy locks behind 
her ear and stroked the sleeping face gently with her hand. 
The knuckles and veins of that hand were prominent, and the 
Angers withered and crooked from labor, but their touch to 
Elule was gentle and soothing like the soothing of a pleasant 
dream. 

“My child, my sweet child, may God help thee, my poor 
child.^^ Paul had been amusing himself in a corner, but now 
he walked up with a very sober face and leaned against his 
grandmother’s knee, and looked on the shut eyelids. Softly 
patting Elule’s round neck with one fat hand, he leaned over 
and put his lips to her pale and handsome cheek, and then 
turned his own plump cheek on hers and let it rest so a long 
time. Then rising he whispered very softly: 

“Aunt Lule! Aunt Lule!” She opened her eyes lan- 
guidly. “When I get to be a big man, — when Fm as big as 
uncle John, Fll marry you. Uh! hur! When I grow way 
up big.” 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


127 


^^You will take care of Auntie, wonH you darling?” 

"When I get to be a great big, big man, Fll have a 
sword;” and then motioning with his hand at the top of his 
head, "and Fll have a — a — a bason on my head, and Fll get 
me an iron coat, and Fll kill them if they touch you.” 

"You would be Auntie^s little soldier, wouldn’t you dar- 
ling?” 

Without noticing the question he turned his look into 
REchel’s face as he stood erect: "Does God love him, too?” 

Eachel: ^^hom do you mean my little Paul?” 

"Why, that man in the castle, that Eoman man.” 

Eachel: "Do you mean the Tribune Metellus?” 

Paul: "Yes, the ‘Bune.’ Does God love him?” 

"Yes, darling, of course he does; he loves everybody.” 

The little fellow immediately turned to his play. 

Elule: "I do not see how God can possibly bring any 
good out of this.” 

"But he surely will,” said Eachel, "to you this may seem 
impossible, but to God all things are possible.” 

"If I could see God bring good to me out of this trouble 
I should always have faith in Him.” 

"Hay, my child; that would be very small reason for 
faith in God. Jesus, the Christ, is the real reason for 
unfailing faith in God’s care. It is easy to see how the going 
of Metellus might be the saving of you and your friends.” 

"What do you mean, mother Eachel?” in astonishment. 

"Why, simply this. We are very sure to have war with 
Eome, now, and if we do, I think the city will be taken and 
destroyed; and you may be sure Metellus will be here and 
will surely save you and your family. We can see how such 
an event might happen; and after it happened we would 
Bay: ^Of course; how natural that things should turn out 


128 


THE DYING LAMP; 


so/ and not give our Heavenly Father credit for his watch 
and love.” 

Elule lay very still, lost in thought and then: ^‘'Do you 
really think Jerusalem will ever he destroyed?” 

^^Yes, that is the word of the Lord Jesus; hut the dis- 
ciples of the Lord will he saved; he will save them.” 

^‘^Mother Eachel, do you ever have any douhts or wrong 
feelings?” Elule took Eachehs hand and held it. The soft- 
ness and exquisite shape of Elule’s hand contrasted with tie 
long, hony hand which she stroked tenderly. 

^^My dear, if I did not go to God every day in prayer, 
yes, every hour, some days, I would sink in despair at tile 
terrors that surround us, and that, to my mind, will gather 
more thickly before us.” | 

The inmates of Elthemus’ house had passed several da}^s 
in quiet. They were not listless days, for the dread of assault 
or outbreak was always present, and a constant guard was 
kept over the door that opened into the street. A high lat- 
ticed window that projected over the street gave a place of 
advantage, and there either John, or Elkanah, or Judas sat 
as a sentry. One evening Elthemus came in greatly excited: 
“You’ll have to hide! They’re coming!” and with all haste 
he got the men into the shaft and placed the stones and 
swept the floor. After the stones were laid he caught up little 
Paul. Presently a score of men came thundering at the 
door. Elthemus, holding little Paul, hastened down to an- 
swer the demand: “Entrance, or we hurst the door!” and 
when the glare of torches fell on his face, “Ho, traitor, where 
are those men?” 

“Yo men here,” defiantly answered Elthemus. 

“Yes, you have been hiding them away somewhere here. 
We’ll find them;” and rudely and boisterously they swarmed 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


129 


through the house. ^^Here is the woman that harbored that 
crazy fellow;” the intruder scowled in EacheFs face. 

Another leered into Elule’s face as he boldly chucked 
her under the chin: “Here’s the girl that stood for that 
Koman whelp.” Elthemus dropped the hoy for an instant 
in Euth’s arms and sprang like a tiger on the offender, strik- 
ing him a blow that felled him to the floor. The mob paused 
a moment and laughed at the discomflture of the fallen man, 
who sullenly picked himself up. All went on rummaging 
every room, then the court and the roof, searching with 
lowered torches for some signs of a secret hiding place; they 
looked in every box and under the loom and in the oven; 
finally, two or three of the leaders explained to Elthemus 
apologetically that they themselves, did not believe him 
guilty of such meanness, but some were so confident, they 
had come to convince them, etc., etc. Elthemus was deeply 
stung by the intrusion into his home by men of his own order. 

The air of the city since the news of the massacre of 
Jews at Caesarea was hot with civil war. Tens of thousands 
were immediately ready to carry the war of retaliation into 
other cities. So, armed companies of men immediately 
invaded the neighboring towns and cities, and uniting with 
resident Jews, attacked the peaceful Gentile inhabitants and 
put them indiscriminately to the sword. The motto was: “Ex- 
terminate the Gentile; cleanse the Holy Land.” Elthemus, 
during these months of autumn came home bringing reports 
of the weekly slaughterings. One day it was: “The Jews 
have attacked and burned the City of Sebaste;” and the par- 
ticulars were repeated as reported to him; at another time: 
“Ekron has been burned and all the Gentiles put to the sword;” 
the next week: “Gaza has been assaulted, its walls are com- 
pletely broken down and the whole city lies in ruins.” Then 


I 


130 THE DYING LAMP; 

the same story was told about the cities of Anthedon, and 
Gadara, and Hippos; and then the same about Gerasa, and 
Pella, and Scythopolis, and many of the towns in Gaulonitis. 
The Jews rose up as one man and simultaneously were 
sweeping the whole ' country clean, — rooting out every 
vestige of the foreigner. The City of Jerusalem as the 
center of this life, was instantly wild with patriotism. The 
patriots were swollen with importance; plundering bands 
brought back great spoil to the envious eyes of the 
peaceful.* 

To the conservative party the clouds seemed to grow 
blacker and blacker, but they held their peace. To the Chris- 
tians, the advent of the Son of Man seemed nearer, portended 
by these events. After a time other reports began to fly 
thick and fast. The Syrians had taken the offensive and 
massacred the Jews in all their cities. ^^At Damascus,” 
Elthemus said, ^‘they have killed ten or fifteen thousand;” 
at Joppa, he learned eight thousand were slain; at Alex- 
andria, in Egypt, the destruction was awful; fifty thousand 
Jews, — men, women and children were put to the sword. 
Dreadful tidings came in now from all quarters; the tide was 
turned and the people of Jerusalem were in mourning over 
the loss of friends, relatives, eminent men of their con- 
nection in all the cities about.* 

As these scenes in history were being enacted through 
those autumn months, and the little imprisoned company 
drank in the facts, while the weary weeks went on, Eachel 
and John did not abate for one moment their expectation, 
neither were they cast down; but always were buoyed by the 
words of the Savior. 

‘^What do these things mean?” was the hopeless exclama- 


Vosephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 18. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


131 


tion of Elkanaih and Judas, son of Jonathan, after one of the 
recitals of woe. 

^^They mean,” said John, ^^that the word of the Lord 
Jesus is being fulfilled; he foretold distinctly this awful 
state of things: ^Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars/ 
he told us. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom 
against kingdom. These things must needs come to pass but 
the end is not yet.” 

^^End,” said Elkanah, ^^What end?” 

^‘^The city will at last be destroyed. The words of my 
Lord are being gradually fulfilled and I am waiting for the 
end.” 

^‘You are deluded,” said Judas, ^^This city has existed 
for two thousand years, and for her at this time a deliverer 
will be raised by God^s power.” 

^^When, when, Ben Amos?” asked Elkanah in a rather 
defiant way, ‘^When think you the city will be destroyed?” 

^^After we see the sign.” 

^mat sign?” 

^^When Jerusalem is compassed with armies then her 
end is near; thus spoke Jesus the Christ; and the disciples 
of Christ will fiee in safety.” 

Judas: ^^These are the words of a false Christ. How 
could you or anyone flee, if the city were encompassed by 
the Eomans?” 


132 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTEE XVni. 

A DEEP LAID SCHEME. 



UT let us go back and see bow it fared with Metel- 
lus. His escort turned back, and he, now, for the 
first time absolutely alone, an agonizing tide of 
memories came rushing on the man. Memories of the das- 
tardly treachery, the loss of his beloved cohort, the amazing 
devotion of one heart to him, all well nigh overwhelmed him 
as he rode half dazed through the straggling lines of fright- 
ened fugitive Jews fieeing from Caesarea, the scene of the 
recent massacre. 

One incident only occurred on his way, by which he 
came near losing his horse. He had dismounted in the sub- 
urbs of Caesarea to save a Greek lad from the butting and 
stamping of a vicious goat, which the lad had been dragging 
by a rope from a pillaged house, when the goat turning from 
the boy, furiously attacked Metellus and his horse, which 
plunging and rearing, tore away from his master’s clutch and 
galloped down the street toward the city gate. After con- 
quering the goat with the aid of two other men Metellus 


went on his way on foot laughing, and now thoroughly waked 
out of his reverie by the amusing struggle. 

The glory of the splendid white buildings of the mar- 
ble city before him was heightened by the deep blue of the 
Mediterranean beyond, and by the green olive orchards on 
either side. 

He had nearly reached the city gate when he saw his 
horse driven toward him and followed by a curious crowd of 
boys. A Centurion had noticed a tribune’s marks on the sad- 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


133 


die and having identified Metellus, with a salute he delivered 
the charger over courteously. 

^^Call at the Governor’s palace to-morrow/’ said the 
tribune, ^%nd I will reward thee.” have my reward already, 
in finding its owner unharmed.” The quiet nobility of the 
answer made Metellus look a second time at the man, then 
springing to his seat he was off through the gate and over 
the clattering and crowded streets, soon bringing up at the 
palace. 

He was presented to Florus the Governor, who receiverl 
him with evident surprise, ^^How alone. Sir Metellus?” Then 
with coarse humor, ^^What tidings from that City of Swine- 
herds?” 'Tdost Excellent Governor, I am alone because I 
only am left.” 

Florus stood speechless a moment, gazing with a fierce 
penetration of eve into Metellus’ face as if he would read the 
mystery. Then he said mechanically, ^TTow you only?” And 
touching him on the shoulder, led him and seated him in his 
private apartment. 

Metellus then began the narrative of the massacre. As 
the astonishing truth dawned little by little on the Governor, 
his chin settled deeper and deeper in his palm between his 
thumb and fore finger, his elbow being propped on the inlaid 
table. Hardly breathing till Metellus reached the point in 
his narrative when he told how the mob cried, ^TCill him, 
kill him, he sent for Florus.” he coolly said without lifting 
his chin out of his palm, ^HiVell I got ahead of them, on that 
very day I let loose the Greeks here and killed twenty thou- 
sand of the dogs, but by their golden altar I’ll have bigger 
revenge.” 

^^So the cohort was killed off to a man,” continued Flo- 
rus, anticipating the story, ^^and the Fates spared you alone?” 


134 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Metellus quietly bore the interruption and described how 
the leaders who had given their right hands, had fought for 
him and cut down their own men to save him. ^‘Humph!’^ 
grunted Florus sarcastically. 

The account finished, he condescended to say, ‘^^Your 
record is clear, you could have done nothing else.” For many 
minutes the two sat in silence. Florus, elbow on table, his 
chin still buried in his palm, peered into vacancy from be- 
tween his half shut, malicious eye-lids, while Metellus 
drummed absent-mindedly with his fingers on the inlaid top. 

Abruptly rousing himself the governor said, must 
send a messenger immediately, to find and inform Cestius 
Gallus of the Syrian forces. He may be at Antioch. He 
may be in the Taurus Mountains. Wherever he is, he ought 
to be in camp at Jerusalem in ten days or two weeks after 
he learns about this affair, but I know him; it will be three 
months, more likely four, before he gets there and after he 
has got there he will do nothing. If this were my business 
I would make short work of it, Fd just clean out the whole 
leper house.” 

Florus, after this deliverance, straightened himself up 
and assumed a hospitable tone and attitude. ^^Noble Metellus, 
you are destined to spend some months in Caesarea, enjoy 
yourself like a good soldier. Make yourself content with 
me.” 

He arose quickly and calling a slave: ^^Send me with- 
out delay Emilius Secundus of the horse.” By the time the 
commander of the troop had appeared a missive had been 
penned and forthwith the messenger and his escort were sent 
galloping up to Syria by the highway that bent about the 
head of Mt. Carmel. That done Florus graciously said, ^^Sir, 
you did well to inform me of the insult offered to Caesar in 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


135 


the temple/^ Then he added almost grinding his teeth with 
malice, gave them then a little lesson; for this treachery 
to the cohort I would rip out every one of their livers.” He 
paused as if still searching for some plan of revenge, then 
suddenly threw off the spell. 

^^ow Sir, let us drop these matters for a season and 
give ourselves up to pleasure. The harbor invites you. Did 
you ever have a pleasure sail in our harbor in the evening? 
Ho? I think you will like it, our barge is at your service. 
We must have races in the hippodrome, I think we can also 
manage for your benefit to have some shows in the amphi- 
theatre.” 

He paused a moment contemplatively with his thumb 
and finger at his smooth shaven chin, then his eyes flashed 
with a gleam of malicious delight: ^^By Hercules! if I do not 
give you and this city a spectacle worth seeing! 1^11 throw 
fifty of these Jewish dogs to the lions; or better still. Til put 
them in training to fight the Gladiators. I’ll do it! Kich 
old curs, Fve got them in irons down in the prison. People 
shall know Eome never forgets an injury.” 

He peered at Metellus through the narrow slits of his 
crafty eyes and not perceiving an enthusiastic reception of 
this last project he regarded his guest for an instant with a 
look of hardly concealed dislike and contempt. 

That evening moored at the quay lay a magnificent barge 
of a hundred oars. Above the oars-men was a deck inlaid 
with enameled tile and half overspread with a party-colored 
silken canopy, and lighted with tall torches. Chairs and 
settees and couches were scattered about. Musicians piped 
and struck their instruments as the governor’s party stepped 
on deck. 

The city was out in festival garb. The stars had just 


136 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


begun to show themselves. The air was soft and still. The 
whole circuit of the long mole that enclosed the harbor was 
ablaze with lights. 

^^See there/’ said FloruS;, as they reclined on a couch, 
pointing to three large black hulls anchored near shore above 
them in the harbor, have three hundred of those Jewish 
whelps chained as galley slaves in those ships. They sail 
to-morrow for Alexandria.” 

Female attendants in rich draperies had already brought 
wine, and Metellus gave himself up to the picturesque beauty 
of the scene. The harbor was made by a vast artificial wall 
that ran out to sea and curved to the north, enclosing a 
basin capable of floating a large fleet of Home’s longest 
keels. Along the top of this entire stupendous work ol 
engineering stood forth in the blaze of illumination the white 
and varied forms of sculptured temples, columns, arches, and 
statutes, which together with the smoking bon-fires and 
torches were reflected in the black waters and made an 
exceedingly brilliant spectacle. 

Smoothly the barge breasted the changeful black and 
gold liquid on which she floated and moved by the impulse 
of her hundred oars softly glided northward toward the 
mouth of the harbor, where rose high in silent majesty, one 
on either side the entrance, the marble collossi of Augnstu?, 
and Home. Against the dark sky and without perspective 
they seemed gigantic. 

^^They well might symbolize two deities,” said Florus, 
"flf there were any such beings.” Said Metellus: ^The Jews 
may well be proud of Their Herod and call him the Great 
who could build this magnificent marble city and execute 
such a piece of engineering,” pointing to the mole, ^hnd erect 
such statues and temples.” ^^Jew?” exclaimed Florus in 



“Remorseless ranis whose heavy iron heads could dislodge solid masonry nine feet thick.” 
(Per. Appleton A Co. Copyrighted.) (See page 144.) 










O' 


t * 


\ f ' pp 





mi^>r¥e 


.i 




,,j > ■■" ■ , %i^i:.>/' ■ ■&■•* Y-f?’ 5^’* -;:sj 

« fc, nyr ^ ^-•... •• ^ ■ ”! 3 B ■. 



•P- 






'■•< * I'i' 







. ■ ■■'^ ‘^ 'v ^- 'VLr* 


iQ 


I' » •,: 


•I V- 





<- 


> 





\>l 











V -"' * I i* — •» 










^ •^•#- J -.4 





-c * - 


• ■*. 1 'ii, 

»:• 4 *C‘ ■'> M • Vi-s 



iW* s; ^ ^ . 


V^^^Saib^. '*^1. 1 la'Jii \4EnL.HL.i^ * 


t. 



lEisL^- ' ■* ‘ Bf ■ 



* ^ 




\\\V\ , .-^l 



lUJ 







ill 


i* 






THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


137 


contempt, “A wretched proselyte! half Edomite, half Arabian. 
They needn’t claim him. He married a Jewess, daughter 
of a High Priest, but he couldn’t live with her, had to kill 
her.” 

Florus in wine was no kitten; and Metellus quietly with- 
drew into himself and simply drank in the splendor of the 
spectacle as the barge turned her prow gently southward 
and coasted along the curve of that mighty mole against 
which the Mediterranean’s fury had for years beaten in vain. 

All along the route the acclamations of the throngs rose 
and swelled and moved with the barge like a great wave run- 
ning a curved beach. The Greek damsels flitted back and 
forth on deck in the torches’ yellow light and music filled 
the air. 

As the barge turned to her moorings again, Florus leaned 
toward Metellus and hissed out, ^^Say the word and I will 
order those three galleys to the quay and set the people on the 
dogs this very night and they will tear them limb from limb.” 

^^Most Excellent Governor, revenge is sweet, only let me 
take it myself, not on these wretches but on the men who 
deserve it. I long to get back to Jerusalem.” ^Tor an 
obolus I’d give the word,” said Florus, showing his teeth. 

In the days that followed as their companionship went 
on Metellus noticed that Florus was at times in a profound 
study, and the sinister look of his eye when off guard made 
the tribune feel uneasy. This feeling was increased by a 
word that Florus let slip at one of his many banquets. 

It happened in this wise: the banqueting hall had been 
prepared as usual. Fifty tables with their couches, (each 
table capable of accommodating nine guests,) were reflected 
from the polished marble floor. These with their silver table 
service, and the soft colors of the marble pilasters and panels 


138 


THE DYING LAMP; 


about, and the gilded carvings in the coffered ceiling, the 
flowers and palm trees, and the officers with crimson cloaks 
and citizens in costumes of green, blue and crimson, made a 
gorgeous spectacle when lighted with clustered candelabra. 

The company ate and drank, music floated from the 
screened loft at one side, and after the courses had been 
finished, which was about midnight, wine alone was served. 
About an hour afterward, a dancing girl robed in gauzy 
drapery so mist-like that every outline of her rounded form 
blushed through it, stepped on the dais opposite the table 
at which Florus and his guest reclined, and danced 
voluptuously as usual. 

Half the officers and citizens were already maudlin and 
greeted the girl with uproarous applause, and before she had 
finished, obscene jokes and vile wit were bandied about as 
the men from either end of the hall clustered behind Florus’ 
table in front of her. 

In the midst of this revelry, Metellus who always occu- 
pied the place of honor, (locus consularis), next his host on 
the middle couch heard him exclaim with an unspeakable 
oath, ^TVe got it!” sharply slapping the arm of his couch 
with the palm of his left hand. At that instant he turned 
and gave an almost diabolical leer toward Metellus. 

Seeing the tribune had caught his eye he adroitly 'made 
as if thinking of the dancing girl by a knowing nod in her 
direction, and leaning over toward Metellus, "Tffehercle! noble 
tribune isn’t she a Vestal Virgin! How would you like 
her?” 

What was the meaning of that long and abstracted 
pondering and that sudden exclamation, 'T’ve got it?” 

We cannot stop to describe the wild orgies of the hours 
that followed this, and all the other banquets, which in- 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


139 


deed were indescribable, as. other dancing girls came in and 
each staying in the hall after her dance, mingled with the 
revelers at the tables. 

But let us hear Florus soliloquize on the following noon 
as he rises from his day sleep after the night of debauch. 
He is seated on the edge of his bed half dressed, chin on 
palm, elbow on knee. (An oath) ^^All came to me while she 
was dancing. Tyrannus Priscus is the very fellow to do it.” 
^'Yes, yes,” nodding his head, crafty scoundrel. A meaner 
trooper never rode in saddle. I know him! Gold! He’d 
sell his own Caesar for gold. ’Twill be their gold too. Eich 
old Jews, ri] throw them to the lions and ’twill be their 
own gold shall destroy Jerusalem. (An oath) Cestius Gallus 
is a weak fool. If Priscus and four of the tribunes advised 
raising a siege he’d do it though the gates were already fall- 
ing in. 

^‘How did he ever get command of the 12th legion? Won 
it at a toss! Humph! Now I must not seem too anxious, 
but I will send in the other hand a round sum that will 
wash the sand from under several of them. Hum! How 
those black-whiskered hypocrites will swell with wind when 
Rome’s cohorts fly before them! Oh! you black eyed devils I 
know you! You will burn incense to your Jehovah for your 
deliverance.” 

In his glee he slapped his knee, ^Tt won’t be your God 
or any other god that is delivering you, but only Florus 
setting a nice little trap to catch your dirty legs and he 
will pay for the trap with your own gold, and he’ll catch 
you!” 

He now folded his arms and scratched himself here and 
there, and folded them again. ^^Sacriflce them? Some one 
must be sacrificed, might as well be the 12th legion as any. 


140 


THE DYING LAMP; 


This soft headed Metellus! Let him suffer too! How the 
Jews will swell with importance when Cestius’ legion runs 
like cowards from the siege. If only they will keep' swollen 
up! Then when the second army comes they’ll say, ^Jehovah 
drove off the first and Jehovah is able to drive this bigger 
army,’ and they’ll hang to it;” and Florus gave a deep, con- 
temptuous snort. ^^Came to me in a twinkling while she was 
dancing. If it only will work? Ah! Gold will make it 
work. Some I have, more I’ll get, by the help of the lions. 

^^Then I’ll set a trap that will catch the whole Jewish 
den at once. Eome might as well be rid of the entire litter 
first as last.” 

From the evening of this banquet during the weeks that 
followed Metellus marked a change in the manner of Florus. 
He now was graciously affable, even oily in his speech. He 
seemed desirous during all the weeks — and months as it 
turned out — not only to relieve the tedium of waiting but 
to take Metellus into his confidence as an intimate friend. 

Sails and banquets and races continued to enliven the 
city and such little personal attentions shown, that Metellus in 
spite of himself, at times almost began to like the man. 

During this long stay and waiting for Cestius, Metellus 
became acquainted with the Centurion who had restored his 
runaway horse. Hever was Metellus more astonished than 
when visiting this Centurion for the first time, he found 
a company of Greek and Eoman men, women, and children 
gathered with the family, and this Centurion was doing what 
he had heard John Ben Amos do so often in the Tower of 
Antonia, — ^preaching the gospel. 

It happened to be what the Christians called the Lord’s 
Day when he first went, and here was this officer in the 
Eoman army preaching without embarrassment the strange 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


141 


doctrine of a crucified and risen Savior, Jesns Christ of 
Nazareth. Bnt as he came to know the man and his family 
by frequent visits, he was almost as much astonished as he 
was delighted at the atmosphere of that home. The sim- 
plicity and purity and affection that prevailed in the entire 
household made the home to him like an oasis in the waste 
of corruption and death. 

The wife, the daughters, the sons, with the father, each 
attractive in his own way, made a circle in which Metellus 
loved to spend many hours of his weary waiting. 

It was at this house one day that a messenger from 
Florus found him. The message read, ^^Cestius Callus passes 
through Antipatris this afternoon on his way to Jerusalem/' 
How the tribune’s pulses bounded at that message! In two 
hours he had vaulted into his saddle and left Florus and 
his guile behind, while before him beamed the face of the 
noble Elule. 

He thought he had left Florus; but a day or two after 
his departure a secret delegation crept out of Caesarea for 
Cestius’ camp at Jerusalem. It bore the gold with which 
Florus craftily designed the ruin of Cestius and his whole 
army, including the 12th legion and Metellus, for the sake 
of a greater ruin which should follow. 


142 


THE mim LAMP; 


CHAPTEK XIX. 

THE EXPECTANT HAND. 

HEY are coming! The Eomans are coming! A 
great army!” panted the breathless fugitives as they 
swarmed by hundreds, and soon by thousands, and 
tens of thousands into the gates. Armed men leading camels 
and donkeys loaded with rescued valuables, jostled and 
pushed one another; peasants with bundles in their hands or 
slung on staves; women bearing babes swung behind their 
shoulders, and leading other children by the hand; mer- 
chants, farmers, soldiers, robbers, men, women, children, 
camels, donkeys, with indescribable clamor, all these were 
daily forcing their way through the gates; all panic-stricken, 
all bringing the same appalling news: “The Eomans are com- 
ing!” 

“How many?” asked Abner and all the leaders. 

“Legions upon legions! Great troops of horse! Multi- 
tudes like the sands of the sea!” 

“Twenty thousand?” asked Eleazer of one and another. 

“More, many times more; they covered all the 
land; they stretched beyond the eye.” “We just es- 
caped with our lives,” said fugitives from the 
strong tower of Aphek. “We saw them coming and fled,” 
said they of Antipatris. Then came dwellers at Bethoron, 
having left all; and soon from Gaba, only seven miles dis- 
tant, they poured in wringing their hands: “The Almighty 
has forgotten to be merciful! To-morrow they will swallow 
the city!” 

A fever of fright burned in the restless, moving masses; 



TEE GLORIOUS DAWU. 


143 


but not in Eleazer, or Abner, or Gorion, or their com- 
patriots. These were ubiquitous, inspiring the patriot army, 
distributing weapons, preparing for the assault. But that 
night Jerusalem tossed on her sleepless bed, often starting 
up in the starlight and scanning the horizon, then lying down 
again anxiously waiting for the dawn. After the sun rose 
over Olivet, the roofs of the houses and the broad walls and 
the one hundred and sixty towers began to swarm with the 
moving tides of the plethoric city. ^^See! see!” a murmur 
ran over the city, and then a hush, as a merging forest of sun- 
glistening spears rose over the mountain crest. See the golden 
glitter of the dreaded eagles and the disc-covered poles bearing 
fluttering banners, as they advance before serried ranks of 
men moving in perfect order. The mountain side to the 
north sparkles like a sea with the twinkle of forty thousand 
spear points. The mingled shouting of captains, rumbling 
of great engines, neighing of horses is borne easily to the city. 
An orderly camp was pitched; with pretorium, tents placed 
in blocks, divided by streets crossing each other at right 
angles, all surrounded by a strong palisade; thus the camp 
of Cestius Gallus grew like a magic city before their eyes. 

^^Now is our salvation nigh,” breathed Rachel having 
viewed the scene from the roof. She had spoken involun- 
tarily in the hearing of the two men, Judas and Elkanah. 

‘T think,” responded Judas, ^This bodes salvation to 
nobody.” 

Quietly the great beast made his lair on Mt. Scopus; 
lying with his chin on paws. Three days he stretched him- 
self there, anon lifting his shaggy head to look upon the 
city; upon the sheep cote in which the sheep were penned. 
The presence of that quiet, reserved, massive strength gazing 
at them without a sound for three long days terrified the 


144 


THE DYING LAMP; 


stoutest hearts. In spite of threats, commands, entreaties 
from the leaders, the inhabitants of that part of the city 
called Bezetlia, next the crouching figure, persisted in evac- 
uating their homes with such valuables as they could tumble 
before them, and in seeking protection behind the stronger 
second wall; noise, shouting, confusion, chaos within the city, 
while Bezetha was being deserted; quietness and order outside 
the city as the mighty strength gazed from his lair on Scopus. 

^Terhaps,^^ said the commander, Cestius Gallus, — seeing 
the terror of the city, — '^it will surrender without a blow;’^ but 
on the fourth day, its patience gone, the crouching figure 
shook itself and launched his might upon the wall.* Great 
engines that hurled stones of three hundred weight, remorse- 
less rams whose heavy iron heads could dislodge solid ma- 
sonry nine feet thick, lofty towers from whose platforms 
missiles could be rained down on the defenders of the wall; 
all these moved in terrifying order on the city. 

Four days they fought and battered the walls; and when 
on the fourth day the great outer wall of Agrippa was dis- 
mantled, and when with shout and trumpet blast the flood 
of the enemy poured into Bezetha, women in the other parts 
of the city fainted, and men ran wildly about with paralyzed 
weapons. The smoke of the burning quarter drifted over 
Jerusalem, hiding the combatants. Now, the patriots were 
panic-stricken and their leaders made Arrangements to fly 
when the second or Acra wall should fall. A common fear 
made old enemies friendly. The elders and eminent aged 
men came out of their hiding places and consulted what to 
do. A council was held by them in the Council House near 
the temple. Their advice was ^^Open the gates to Cestius 
Gallus lest when the wall falls the whole city be devoted to 

* Josephus, Wars of Jews. Bk. 2. Chan. 19. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


145 


the sword/^ Articles of surrender are written and signed and 
sealed by them.* Elkanah, with the others, puts to his name. 
A messenger was secretly dispatched with this plan to open 
the gates. 

He reaches Cestius Gallus, who immediately calls a coun- 
cil of war. Tyrannus Priscus declares that underneath the 
offer, lies some dark treachery; and points to the case of 
Metellus as a striking testimony to the quality of Jewish 
honor. 

As a matter of fact Tyrannus had already received bribes 
from Florus to divert Cestius from accepting the surrender 
of the city; but Metellus pleads for an acceptance of the 
offer: ‘T am personally acquainted with some of these 
signers; they are sincere in their intentions, honorable men.^^ 
But Metellus’ very presence nullifies Metellus’ advice. So 
far the plan of Elorus had succeeded. 

The elders anxiously await the messenger, but no mes- 
senger brings tidings. When on the morrow the thunder 
of the great battering rams commences, all hearts in the 
city have given up all hope. ^‘They do remember the 15th 
of Ab,” gasped the aged men, ‘^God executes fierce vengeance 
on the faithless.” All day prayers rose from the city for 
deliverance; such deliverance as came to Hezekiah when Sen- 
nacherib’s host was smitten. All day the mighty battering 
rams smote the trembling walls. All day the contingent 
of sappers and miners was tunneling beneath the towers, 
and when night-fall came, the tottering masonry hah almost 
yielded to their efforts. ‘^‘^One short hour to-morrow, they 
all said, ^^will finish the work.” 

Exultant with the hope of easy victory and with the 
assurance of untold spoil which the legionaries almost felt 

* Josephus, Wairs. Bk. 2. Chap. 19. 


146 


TBE DYING LAMP; 


in their hands, the great army lay down at night, after 
their hard-earned supper eaten with overflowing jest and 
laughter, to a sweet, sound sleep. To-morrow the golden 
eagles will he planted in the midst of the sanctuary before 
the Holy of Holies; to-morrow they will do sacrifice to Mars, 
on Jehovah’s altar; to-morrow they will be rich with un- 
counted treasure. Thus they lay down to rest. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWR. 


U1 


CHAPTEE XX. 

AN OATH. 

T the same time, the scenes in the devoted and 
despairing city were most heart-moving. 

“My counsel,” said Eleazer to his men, “is 
not to fight against God, hut through the secret passage 
under the temple to fly to the mountains.” 

Abner had given up all hope; in his despair he was 
paralyzed; he would not take refuge with Elthemus and 
his father Elkanah; life itself was nothing now, to him; 
the hand of God was against the city unless a miracle was 
performed. 

In Elthemus’ house, Elkanah doted upon the curious 
mystical ring with its three intertwined serpents which Elule 
now wore. Elkanah carefully, lovingly took it off her hand 
as a very precious talisman. “When the Eoman commander 
sees this ring he will save us. This is our shield; our only 
defence.” 

Judas began to rail at John, as through the anxious, 
sleepless hours they walked the house that night. “Ben 
Amos, you perceive the words of the Nazarene are false; 
the city is now surrounded by our foes; to-morrow God only 
knows what will happen, and who then will protect 
us from the edge of the sword? Mayhap God will hare his 
right arm in defence of Israel, but you may he sure it will 
not he for the disciples of the false Christ. Why have not 
you and Eachel and all the others of your sect fled from 
the city? I thought that was your hope, when the city was 
encompassed, to fly; hut what hope of your fleeing now? 



148 


THE DYING LAMP; 


No, no! one event awaits ns both. May God in his mercy 
grant a great deliverance! Why don’t yon go this very night, 
before the morrow comes? Ah! yon cannot! yon cannot! 
Yonder sleeps the enemy and yon and we are at his mercy. 
Think yon, yon will fly to-morrow?” The thonght of the 
reeking sword made the old man break ont: ^^Oh, God, have 
mercy! Almighty One, save Thy people!” 

^'We, the disciples of the Lord, are simply trnsting,” 
said John with the air of one to whom no door was visibly 
open. 

Jndas made no answer, bnt gathering his beard in hii# 
hand stroked it repeatedly and nervonsly. 

John continned as he paced qnietly on: ^'The Lord 
Jesns is able to bring forth salvation to his disciples, even 
to-morrow.” 

^^Ben Amos,” said Jndas raising his right hand, 
solemnly swear here before these witnesses that if to-mor- 
row yon Nazarenes can escape; if yon are able to flee from 
the city withont harm or any damage whatsoever; if throngh 
the enemy’s camp yon are able to reach the monntain, as 
yonr Messiah has promised yon; I solemnly swear before 
these witnesses and before the Almighty that I will con- 
fess this Nazarene to be the very power of God and I will 
become one of his disciples.” The aged man snddenly lost 
his fire, and a look of angnish came over his face: ^Tt seems 
as if the blood of this man was being visited on ns.” 

Eaehel, meantime, was qnietly sleeping, as the moving 
fignres passed from one room to another, and now in sim- 
ple faith John laid himself down, with the words of the 
psalmist on his lips: laid me down and slept; I awakened; 

for the Lord sn stained me,” and fell into a peaceful slumber. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


149 


CHAPTER XXL 
GOD’S HAND. 

ET us go back a moment to the afternoon of that 
expectant fifth day before these incidents. Metel- 
1ns had been directing his troops from the top 
of a broken wall in Bezetha, and while there, as he cast 
his eyes over the Acra wall, he saw distinctly two forms 
leaning against the parapet of Elthemns’ house. Could one 
of them be his Elule? He waved a signal with his hand in 
the air, and in a moment an answering wave of a silken 
scarf told him that Elule’s heart was still his. 

His hope beat high, for to-morrow the victorious army 
would complete the undermining of the already tottering 
wall and the spoil of Jerusalem would be theirs; but spoil 
was nothing to him; to-morrow he would have hi^own treas- 
ure and no one would be able to say him nay. 

That night the Tribune with these unspoken expecta- * 
tions had lain down to sleep in his tent. About him lay 
the great Roman army tired with their toil and fast asleep 
as we have seen. The sentries paced back and forth. As 
Metellus slept he dreamed and he seemed to be with Elule. 
They both were in Rome; the father of Elule, a white-haired 
priest of Jupiter Capitolinus, had offered a sacrifice before 
the marble temple on the mount; and standing there before 
the seated massive image of the god, had pronounced the 
solemn formula giving up his daughter. Elule, arrayed in pure 
white, with a crown on her head, had been led by Metellus 
through sculptured porticos to his own home. As he came to 
its door he had seized her as if by force and as if against her 



160 


THE DYING LAMP; 


will, and carried her struggling across the threshold of the 
old family mansion, after the custom of his ancestors; he 
had brought her before the hearth where burned always the 
Sacred Fire, — the deity of his fathers; but the fire was gone, 
and instead of it, a gentle light in the form of a cross^ 
seemed to stand glowing above the dead ashes; and instead 
of his sprinkling her with the lustral water, they both bowed 
their heads and purifying drops fell on them both. Then 
they prayed, kneeling there as his ancestors had long done 
before him; then they arose and sat together at a table 
where lay a loaf of bread between them and he took it, 
and broke it, and gave to her, as his father had done to his 
mother when they were wedded, and as his grandparents 
had done; but as he looked into her eyes of love, and just 
as he reached out his arms to clasp her to his bosom, and 
kiss her beautiful lips, — she seemed to vanish and disap- 
pear. The earth seemed to tremble and — 

^^oble Metellus, awake!” The guard was shaking him. 

^^What’s the matter?” 

^^An order from the commander, the noble Cestius Gallus.” 

Metellus sprang to his feet; already part of the camp was 
alive; it was past midnight. His order read: 'Tlace your 
cohort in marching order immediately.” Was he still dream- 
ing? Would Cestius assault the wall at midnight? What 
does this mean? There was no sound of trumpet — only a 
deep murmur ran over the host. The camp fires were not 
lit; the tents were being struck and placed on mules’ backs; 
the miners and sappers moved to the front; the Sacred Fire 
on the altar was lifted as if they were about to break camp. 
Metellus was utterly bewildered; he could more easily be- 
lieve his dream a reality than the scene before him amid 
the pale light of a thousand stars. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


161 


No officer could give any explanation of the order; the 
soldiers had never had such an experience; everybody moved 
and obeyed as in a trance, — automatically. At last, standing 
in marching order, the command was passed through the 
ranks: "March to Gabao!” They were actually moving their 
feet away from the city that was theirs, and from all their 
successes.* They were actually retreating! 

What were they fleeing from? No one knew; no one 
could guess; they knew they were moving from vast spoils 
and from the glory of victory; they were moving into shame; 
hut a Roman obeyed orders even though he marched to worse 
than death, to dishonor. As Metellus mounted his horse he 
cast behind him a glance of unspeakable disappointment. 

*Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chajp. 19. 


152 


THE DYING LAMP; 


OHAPTEE XXII. 

AXOTHEE ASPECT. 

HE next morning the sky was just growing grey 
in the east; a sentry shouts from the wall of Acra 
to a little hand, that, in the dusk, was hastening 
along in Jerusalem, making ready for th'e final, and death- 
struggle. 

^Traise to the ever blessed! They are gone!’’ 

^^Who? what do you say?” 

^^The Lord of Hosts has smitten them and they have 
fled.” 

^'Xot the army of Cestius!” 

^^Even so! Peace he to Jerusalem! Blessed he her God 
forever!” 

Swiftly mounting the tower, the patriots see what seems 
an empty camp. The tents are gone and in the dusk the top 
of Scopus seems swept clean of the hosts. 

Here and there, all over the city, wakeful sleepers woke 
before dawn into the horror in which they had lain to sleep. 
Despairingly they cast their eyes toward the irresistible pow- 
er, which on that day, would suck the blood of men, women 
and children. 

‘'^What do we see?” each rubs his eyes. ‘’^What? where? 
where is the camp? There lies the trench and raised ground; 
but the palisade is gone it would seem, and so are the 
tents; but where is the enemy? Smitten? Perhaps hiding! 
Ah, yes, they draw us into ambush.” 

In one half hour all Jerusalem was standing on the 
house-tops, walls, towers, temple corridors. A hush was on 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


153 


the city. Was it indeed the right hand of God? Cautiously 
hands of armed men issue from the gates; they reach the 
camp; they shout aloud, they kneel prostrate toward the tem- 
ple. With wild joy, some pass on over the mountains, while 
others run hack with the tidings: ^‘^The camp is deserted; 
baggage and garments are left strewn all about; they have 
fled; the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!” 

The city fell on its knees as at the presence of the awful 
right hand of God; when up from the temple courts through 
the strange thrilling silence, hurst forth, faint at first hut 
swelling as the priestly procession filed from the temple 
gate into the streets, the words of this song: ^^The Lord 
reigneth! Let the earth rejoice; clouds and darkness are 
round about him; righteousness and judgment are the habita- 
tions of his throne; a fire goeth before him and hurneth up 
his enemies round about: the earth saw and trembled. Con- 
founded he all they that serve graven images; that boast 
themselves in idols. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil; he 
preserveth the souls of the saints; he delivereth them out 
of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous 
and gladness for the upright in heart.” 

The words swelled higher and higher and more tri- 
umphantly, and as the great thousands took it up. Olivet 
echoed to the valleys and the valleys to the hills beyond. 

^Tlejoice in the Lord, ye righteous and give thanks at 
the remembrance of his holiness.”* 

Before the city stood the frowning towers, still as 
sepulchers; under vast structures of frame work, motionless, 
hung the terrible battering rams. The halestae had no one 
manning their great steel hows to hurl the screaming, deadly 
missile. It was the hand of God. Forth from all the wide 


* Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 19. 


154 


THE DYING uAMP; 


open gates pour choking streams of armed men who hasten, 
even with their food in their hands, to complete the rout of 
the panic-stricken foe. 

Such a breakfast as the women and children of Jeru- 
salem had that glorious morning! Kachel, and Ruth, and 
Paul with bread in their hands, were watching the tide flow- 
ing over Mount Scopus. Elule was in the street laughing 
and talking with the chattering groups of maidens, who 
fairly danced for joy. Sometimes she would suddenly be- 
come quiet and find herself gazing far off, but none no- 
ticed it. 

Elkanah had no appetite. He started for his residence. 
John sat down with Ben Ananus and ate a comfortable meal. 
High and strange w^ere the stirrings in his soul. The Lord 
Jesus was by his side; he felt with an exquisite thrill the . 
touch of his Savior and Lord. It was enough. Deliver- 
ance had come. He and his mother and Ruth had kneeled 
by themselves and given thanks; and now there remained 
work to be done. 

A convocation of the Ministers of the Word was to 
be held; plans were to be laid for departure; every Christian 
man, woman and child was to be seen, notified, urged, if 
need be, to act immediately; effects and movable property 
must be gathered. All this must be done to-day, quietly, 
swiftly, thoroughly; to-morrow the disciples must flee from 
Jerusalem: — there must be no delay; no waiting to sell houses 
or lands; no breath of doubt or hesitation.* Sudh a break- 
fast as John ate! Everything spoke peace to his soul. 

H will go now,^^ he said to his mother and sister, “and 
meet with the brethren, and, as far as possible, help to put 
everything in readiness for the morrow.” 


Matt. 24:17-18. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


155 


also, will make ready,” they said. 

But in Bachel’s face was a subdued look; the lines of 
her noble countenance were deeper; the large, expressive 
eyes were set almost with severity; she was very quiet. In 
her arms she carried little Paul. 

^‘Where are we going, my granma?” 

'To Pella, my child.” 

"Where is that?” 

"Over yonder; you cannot see it. It lies beyond the 
Jordan in Gilead.” 

"Oh, won^t that he nice; are there flowers there, and 
little lambs?” 

"Yes, dear.” 

"Do we all go to-morrow?” 

"The Lord will show us, my child.” The tears were 
standing in EacheFs eyes, already; and when the happy baby 
hoy clapped his hands and asked: 

"And will papa go too?” 

They silently ran down her cheeks and she could not 
speak. 

John stood in the Apostles’ Church with the other 
brethren. They stood in an awe-stricken circle in that 
little church and worshiped. Christ was present by his spir- 
it; and such praise and gratitude and consecration were ex- 
pressed, as if He actually stood in the flesh among them. 
About them was the roar of an intoxicated city. Within 
this and every church, was the unutterable joy of the Lord. 

John, with the elders went everywhere: "The peace of 
God and the joy of his son, Jesus, rest on this house,” was 
their salutation as they entered Christian homes that day. 
"To-morrow, at the third hour we depart for the city of 
Pella, in Gilead.” Every disciple answered: "Peace he with 


166 


THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. 


thee and joy in the Spirit; we will be ready ^TRemeni- 
ber,” John said, and so said all the ministers of the Word — 
^^Eemember, the Lord said: “^Make haste! Flee!’” ^^By the 
grace of Grod we will obey,” was the invariable answer. 

Eachel and Euth gathered their few effects; provisions 
were laid in store for the way; the house was deserted by 
all save the two women and little Paul; even Ben Ananas 
was abroad, but there were few men, or even boys in the 
narrow streets. Peals of laughter from the overhanging win- 
dows and from open portals, where gathered clusters of smil- 
ing maidens, greeted the strange figure of Ben Ananus as 
he awkwardly moved along, staring high before him, this way 
and that. It was a gala day. The temple was deserted by 
all save the old men and women and babies. Eunners every- 
where brou^t news of the route of the enemy: ‘^Wast quan- 
tities of provisions, heaps of armor, thousands of weapons, 
dead bodies of mules, strew the ground.” Others later: ^^We 
have overtaken the enemy and God is giving them into oar 
hands, we beset them behind; we hurl spears and shoot arrows 
all along their route, as they tumble throu^ the ravines.” 
Toward night runners brought news: ^‘We will surely capture 
Cestius Gallus and his whole army.” Every able-bodied Jew 
in Jerusalem had girded on the sword; every Jewish boy 
that could carry sword or hurl a javelin was hurrying to 
harry the entrapped army. But night came, and the pt.r- 
suit had to be given up. Back swarmed the fighters, laden 
with spoil, shouting, singing, making the mountains echo 
with their jubilations. 

Elthemus, weary and dust-stained, entered his home 
that evening with entire satisfaction. In his hand was an 
officer’s helmet curiously inlaid, and in the helmet a heavy 
bag of Eoman coins; over them was cast an officer’s cloak 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


157 


stained with blood. No sooner was he in the house than 
he poured out the money on the cloak he had spread out 
on the divan, and, kneeling, counted it. ^Tour hundred 
shekels in gold and thirty and six — He hung with gloat- 
ing look over it while Eachel and Kuth stood about, and 
little Paul clapped his hands with delight, and skipped and 
capered about: ^^Oh, we are rich! we are rich.” 

Then after describing the terrible rout, and loss, and 
humiliation of the Eomans (6,000 killed);* he went out to a 
supper spread, as was the custom, on the floor, and ate as one 
who is famished. 

At last he looked around and saw bundles and baskets 
piled high with their contents. ^‘What are these for?” he 
asked casually. 

Eachel answered quietly: “John and I will leave the 
city to-morrow.” 

Elthemus stopped eating a moment and gave a pierc- 
ing look at Eachel and then at Euth. Their whole plan 
flashed before him at once. “By the right arm of Grod! if 
I ever saw such — But with his eye resting on the noble face 
of Eachel now deathly pale, he spared the scornful word 
“(fools),” and then added, “You Christians!” His lip curled 
with contempt and he addressed himself again to his sup- 
per, but talking meanwhile, “Why didn’t the Eomans de- 
stroy the city? You thought they would; you thought they 
would destroy it immediately and save you, but don’t you 
see the folly of that Nazar ene’s doctrine? I have heard 
enough of it; I want no more. God flghts for the city. He 
smote the Eomans with fear and they fled without any cause. 
Such a thing was never known before. Think of it; six 
thousand Eomans lie dead to-night among our valleys. 


^Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 19. 


158 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Eleazer, and Gorian, and Judas and all the captains confess 
that God this day has fought for Jerusalem^^ — so he went 
on talking and eating as he held his boy in between his 
knees. 

Eachel and Euth sat and said nothing. After supper 
he again went into the other room and spread out his gold 
on the divan and examined by the lamp the fine work- 
manship of the helmet: ^^Belonged to a Gentile dog.^^ He 
helped little Paul, who, grasping the proudly crested metal 
piece with both his hands, was trying to lift it to his head. 
The father’s hand steadied the helmet above the child’s 
shoulders. To him, looking out roguishly with laughter 
from the cavernous darkness of it, the father said banter- 
ingly: ^^Ho, you’ll never make a soldier!” 

^^Yes,” he said, clinging to its sides with both fat fists, 
^‘Yes, granma says, I will be a soldier for Jesus.” 

Elthemus’ countenance fell as he laid the helmet do\^ 
in silence. Gathering up his gold in a bag and laying it 
aside he went out presently where the two women were 
sitting. “I suppose,” he said abruptly to Euth, ^‘'you too 
would like to go on this fool’s errand.” Euth began to 
weep and answered nothing. ^‘^And leave me here all alone.” 
Elthemus walked back and forth pondering; at last he 
stopped: ‘^Do you really want to go? Can you believe that 
stuff?” 

Eachel spoke quietly: ‘‘1 say it now and will not re- 
peat it again. The Lord Jesus expressly told us that Jeru- 
salem should be destroyed and he gave us a sign: ‘When 
ye see the city encompassed with armies,’ then said he, 
‘Depart!’ The sign has appeared and the door of redemp- 
tion is now open and to-morrow John and I and the disciples 
will leave the city. Elthemus, my son, you have rightly 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


159 


guessed our desire in regard to Euth and I have to ask of 
you only this one great favor: that Euth be allowed to 
go with us.” 

^^Never!” he burst out, clenching his fist with a fierce 
gesture. 

Euth, with outstretched arms and a sort of wail turned 
and sank down with her face in her mother^s lap. 

are only going to Pella, my son, and — Eaehel 
hesitated, ^^and she will come back when it is over.** 

^^Over? There never was a greater lie than this one which 
that fellow taught you ISTazarenes. Jesus was nobody. What 
did he know about the future? Jerusalem has stood since 
I know not from what time and will stand forever. What! 
let Euth make a fool of herself before the people? Never!” 

‘^We ask only a short time, your sister Elule says you 
can make your home with them.” 

^Tt will only be a short time, my son,” and the tears 
silently coursed down Eachebs face; know it is a great 
thing to ask, but if you could be so merciful as to grant it.” 

Elthemus strode back and forth excitedly, while Paul, 
having run from him, had laid his head comfortingly down 
by his mother’s. Turning suddenly and stopping before the 
group the father bent over and hissed out: “Let her go! 
but by the arm of the Almighty, I’ll keep the boy.” 

Euth lifted her face covered with both hands and wailed 
a sharp, piteous wail, while Eaehel with tightly closed lips 
and ashen pallor looked him full in the eyes as he stepped 
back. 

“Now, that’s the end of this business,” he said as he 
sullenly turned and left the room. 

That night while Elthemus heavily slept, Eaehel was 
getting strength of God: “Father of all mercies, help us. 


160 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


Wherefore dost thou bring trial after trial upon us till we 
are sometimes almost crushed to the earth. Lord Jesus/^ 
and the tears streamed in a steady flow as she put the case 
to the Lord, ^^Lord Jesus, thou seest how it stands; Kuth 
cannot leave her darling boy and how can I leave either 
of them? Why dost thou bring us to sucb. trials, gentle 
Savior? I would rather die than live without giving them 
my care. I cannot go without them. I see thine open door 
and thank thee; and — and — if I stay, I believe that same 
power which — which now opens a great door to all the multi- 
tude of disciples, will, when the whelming flood strikes us, 
open a small door to mine and me if I remain with my girl 
and the baby. Oh Christ, stay by me; strengthen, comfort 
and cause me to be a blessing, and bring good out of this 
unspeakable disappointment.'^ 

While she was still praying John came in from the 
streets, which now at midnight, were hardly settled to their 
wonted quiet. Eachel rose and told him all. John’s face 
blanched with an horror of fear; he sat and said nothing for 
a long time. His breath came and went quickly as if his 
heart were bursting with disappointment, and anger, and 
fear. 

have been praying all day long that God would soften 
Elthemus’ heart and incline him to let Euth go.” Then 
they were silent a while. 

Then John spoke quietly: “God’s will be done; I do not 
see how you can leave her or little Paul, and surely I shall 
never leave you. God will find some way out. That man — ” 
his voice was hard; instantly he paused to control himself; 
and after the struggle, said very quietly and kindly: “Broth- 
er Elthemus is dragging us into the deepest pit of suffering 
the world has ever seen, according to our Savior’s words,” 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


161 


A hush came over them as each sat there and looked into 
the mysterious terrors that yawned before them. John lifted 
his strong face while the tears welled to his eyes: ^^Oh, 
if Elthemus when the Lord Jesus saved the life of his boy, 
had only answered the call of the Spirit!’^ The strong man’s 
lips quivered and his whole frame trembled. 


162 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTEE XXni. 

TWO OPPOSITE CUKKENTS. 

‘HE next morning long before sunrise the whole city 
was astir. From the gates were issuing bands of 
patriot soldiers, and of irregular multitudes, 
hastening to the scene of yesterday’s victory for the pur- 
pose of plunder. The city was again early emptied of its 
able-bodied patriots. That was one current, now look at the 
other current. 

It was about nine o’clock when Eachel, and Euth, and 
John stood on their roof on Acra and looked eastward. 
See the group shielding their eyes from the glowing sun: 
Eachel, ashy pale, her well-proportioned face set into fine 
lines, her finely shaped head bare and glistening white in 
the sun; her form clad in white. By her, hand in hand, 
stands Euth, dark-eyed, tawny-skinned, her lips parted a 
she gazes at the scene in the distance; her head covered 
with a mantle; her dusky arm bared as she shields her eyes. 
A blue mantle hangs over her red robe. On the other side 
of her stands a well proportioned man; his head is covered 
with a white head cloth and bound about with a brown 
cord. His striped abba of brown and white girt with a 
girdle of brown stuff, flows to his sandaled feet. His face, 
like his mother’s, marked with high resolution, is now touched 
with deep emotion. In his right arm he bears the boy so dear 
to them all. Their eyes are strained eastward to a proces- 
sion which is wending its way in the brilliant sun up the 
Mount of Olives. Camels and donkeys, loaded high with 
bundles and boxes and baskets, or carrying women with little 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


163 


children are accompanied by a long column of men; all form- 
ing a picturesque caravan, which slowly creeps up the steeps 
of Olivet. The Christians have evacuated the city. Not a 
word does the group on Elthemus’ roof say to one another 
as they gaze at that sight. From the eastern gate, down the 
valley, and up over Olivet, the long procession streams; while 
the tears silently fall — drop — drop — drop — from the ashen, 
wrinkled face of Eachel. All the morning she and John and 
Euth have been saying: ‘^May the peace of God he with 
you; and farewell in the Lord,^^ to old friends, to disciples, 
dear as their lives. All the morning EacheFs and Euth’s 
tears have silently fallen, as friends, one after another have 
sunk on their necks and given the holy kiss of Christian 
love. All the morning, as the brethren had been gathering 
for the exodus, John had moved among them giving the kiss 
of peace, and exhortation to stand fast in the Lord; and 
had made request to he remembered always in their pray- 
ers; and when as the thousands assembled in the streets near 
the Fish gate, amid the jeers of Jewish women and giggling 
maidens, and the contemptuous sneers of the old men and 
boys, John bade his yoke fellows: ^T'arewell in the Lord,” 
he added quietly as he took each one by the hand, ^^Ma- 
ranatha” (“Our Lord cometh”). 

Now, from the house-top these three, the only remain- 
ing Christian disciples of all the thousands of Jerusalem, with 
an unutterable sense of loneliness, and homesickness, and 
undefined terror of coming events, stood in long silence, 
watching the happy believers as they moved in accordance 
with their Lord^s direction to the mountains across the river, 
to Pella, in the sweet pasture land of Perea. 

Before night the ten thousands of patriot soldiers and 
armed boys swarmed back into the city, laden with spoil. 


164 


THE DYING LAMP; 


\ 

The blue smoke under the Avails and on Scopus had revealed 
all the afternoon the destruction of the engines of Avar. 
hToAv, as the days passed, the Spirit of War brooded on the 
city. In tAvo Aveeks Jerusalem Avas filled Avith the clanging 
of anvils; everyAvhere Avas the forging of spear heads, SAVords, 
arroAv^heads, armor. In the temple, on the site of the burned 
palace of Agrippa, in private courts, everyAvhere 
forges burned and the anvils rang.* Enthusiasm ran high. 
Bands of young men Avere drilled in all Avarlike exercises; 
in target practice Avith boAV and arroAv; in javelin practice, 
in the manipulation of the balistae, taken from Cestius, Avhich 
hurled stones and huge javelins. 

^‘^Mother,^^ said John, a day or tAvo after the exit of the 
disciples, ^^everybody is preparing for Avar; Avould it not be 
Avise for us, since God has called us to remain here, per- 
haps till the end, to make ready for the day of the Lord? I 
think it Avould be Avise to lay by a store of grain against 
that day.^^ 

“We knoAV not Avhat Avill hapnen,^’ said Eachel, “but 
the Lord said distinctly there shall be great tribulation. Oh, 
John, hoAv can Ave ever pass through the trials that lie be- 
fore us?” 

“Mother, it seems as if you and I Avere like prisoners, 
chained in a burning building, but God can Avork this out 
for our good, and the furtherance of the gospel.” 

“My only hope is in our Father in heaven. I think it 
Avell to do as you say.” 

That afternoon Avhile the clanging of anvils sounded 
about, a couple of men Avere seen bearing on their backs 
sacks of Avheat and depositing them in a pile in the court 
yard. When Elthemus came home he burst into an un- 

* Josephus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 22. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


165 


controllable fit of laughter, at sight of these, but readily 
permitted John to deposit his treasure in the dry bottom 
of the shaft. The one hundred and fifty measures filled 
the shaft up to the door of the chamber and on the sacks 
John laid boards. John now quietly took up the trade 
of shoemaking, learned when a youth. The customers that 
came freely to his little shop in Elthemus^ court yard, ban- 
tered him on being a renegade hTazarene, but John to his now 
easy humored listeners quietly persisted in showing that 
Jesus was the very Christ. His customers were numerous; 
every man was being equipped at public cost for war. 

^^Where now?” asked John of two full armed men that 
came for their sandals. 

^^To Ascalon, by God’s grace,” they loftily answered. 
Ascalon was held b}^ a cohort of Roman infantry and its 
accompaniment of five hundred cavalry. ^^We shall soon make 
an end of them. the Almighty!” they said on leaving the 
court. 

The next day saw a large army, with which were all 
of Elkanah’s sons, move with banners from the city. 

Elkanah sat down in the court yard by the side of 
the shoemaker: ^^My prayer is that the God of Sabaoth may 
keep the boys. The counsel of the aged is set at naught. 
John Ben Amos, it seems as if the Almighty himself were 
'withdrawing his countenance from Jerusalem!” 

John: “You think, then, that the Romans will in the 
end destroy the city?” 

“Hay, nay; the promises of God prohibit that, but some 
dire evil awaits us, I apprehend.” 

“The word of the Lord Jesus is that the city shall be 
utterly destroyed, and Eather bhkanah, I beseech you to fly 
while the door is open. You know many eminent men of 


166 


THE DYING LAMP; 


the Jews are swimming away from the city as from a sink- 
ing ship 

^^But the Rabbis teach concerning Jerusalem, ^That if an 
enemy gather in war against thee he shall fall beneath thy 
walls/ Yon know Ben Amos, that the Scripture says, ‘^Yo 
weapon formed against thee shall prosper/ ” 

Verily, these are God’s promises, but his promises are to 
those who obey; not to the disobedient. This people have been 
disobedient. They have crucified the Son of God,” John’s 
voice became very low and sad, ^^now the door is shut.” 

^^God forbid!” Elkanah tapped the stone of the court 
with his staff nervously: ^‘^God forbid! God is merciful; 
the mercy of the Lord endure th forever; surely he will never 
cast off his people. ^The mountains may depart and the hills 
be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee.’ 
Thus readeth the Scripture.” 

^Tather Elkanah, these words are spoken of the true, 
spiritual Israel; not of Israel according to the fiesh.” 

^‘^E'ay, nay,” said Elkanah, violently shaking his head, 
"^you make the word of God of no effect,” and in his agita- 
tion he arose to go. 

^Tather Elkanah,” said John with deep feeling: 
prs-y hy the Holy Spirit not to rely on sonship with 
Abraham; we are saved by faith. If you will believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, he will save you out of every present 
strait, — and much more, with an everlasting salvation. Father 
Elkanah, pardon me for speaking very plainly: if you neglect 
Jesus Christ, wrath is in store. This city will surely be 
destroyed because it has rejected the Son of God, but the 
soul that receives Jesus as Christ shall be saved in that 
great day of the Lord; for the Lord is coming with power 
and great glory.” 


Voseiphus, Wars. Bk. 2. Chap. 20. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


167 


The foreboding of his own heart and the flight of many 
eminent acquaintances made Elkanah more open to the truth; 
he saw that the retreat of Cestius Gallus, instead of lightening 
up the situation with the promise of ultimate success^ was in 
fact a mysterious, lurid light of some greater destroyer. 

The writer Pliny, who gives a graphic account, as eye 
witness, of the burial of Herculanum by the famous eruption 
of Mt. Vesuvius, says: 

dense, dark mist seemed to follow us, spreading 
over the country like a cloud. Lest we should he trodden 
under foot by the throngs, we turned aside; when, suddenly 
nig'ht was upon us — not such as we have when there is no 
moon — hut such as there is in a closed room when the lights 
are extinguished.” He then describes the shrieking of the 
women, the wailing of the children, the shouts of men. 
^^‘Suddenly,” he says, ^ht grew somewhat light; we felt sure 
that it was not the light of day;” in truth it was the red light 
of a fiery, molten river of lava, that was moving toward 
them from behind. So the sudden light that dawned on the 
palpable darkness of Jerusalem when her walls began to 
totter was not the day-break of Salvation as the patriots 
thought but the lurid light of wrath. This, John saw clearly, 
and Elkanah felt but would not acknowledge. 

A few days after this conversation John was walking 
through the city and perceived a great commotion in the 
street: women wailing and beating their breast, men run- 
ning hither and thither. 

“The peace of God to thee! What tidings?” he asked 
of a man. 

“A messenger declares that God fights with our ene- 
mies.” 

^TSow, in the name of our Holy One?” 


168 


THE DYING LAMP; 


^^Our enemies have slain ten thousand of Israel* * and, 
the army of God turns its hack to the sword.’^ 

Before night the streets of the city resounded with the 
pattering feet and sullen murmur of beaten hosts; desolated 
homes bewailed the thousands buried on the battlefield. 

After the defeat at Ascalon, rumors of other repulses 
came from all the northern country through which Vespasian 
was passing. Each week homeless fugitives came fieeing to 
Jerusalem. Men, women and children; robbers, desperadoes, 
cut-throats; the best and worst classes kept flocking to this 
center.* 

^^The robbers from the countrv are joining us,’’ cried 
Abner in dismay to Eleazer, as he saw hundreds of reckless 
desperadoes flocking to their standard and making the temple 
their rendezvous. 

^‘Ve will hold them in check by the sanctity of this 
holy temple,” answered Eleazer. But these men feared 
neither God nor man. 

^^They have kidnapped Antipas, the treasurer of the 
city and hold him in chains for ransom; they have seized 
Levias and Sophas, men of royal lineage and many others 
in broad day; they are seeking the rich men. Father con- 
ceal yourself; let the door be barred and do you retreat to 
the chamber.” These were the words of Abner and Elthemus. 

In terror of his life Elkanah was lowered down the 
shaft and all readiness made to conceal the women too. In 
a day or two Abner brought the news that the robbers 
had coolly cut the throats of every eminent man they had 
imprisoned.* Houses and shops were now everywhere closed. 
Elthemus was cautiously guarding his house; but Gad roamed 

*Josephus, Wars. Bk. 3. Chap. 2. 

*Josephii/s, Wars of Jews. Bk. 4. Chap. 3. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


169 


with the desperadoes. One day as these new comers rioted, 
some one of them suggested that they choose another High 
Priest. The multitude, of Gad^s stripe, took up the sug- 
gestion and in sheer mischief that lawless multitude disan- 
nulled the legal succession and cast lots for a new High 
Priest. The lot happened to fall on a country boor named 
Phannias, who did not even know what High Priesthood 
meant. The trembling gawky rustic was seized, dragged to 
the temple, and arrayed with the blue robe of the High Priest 
tinkling with its golden bells and pomegranates, and with the 
gorgeous embroidered ephod with its priceless jeweled breast 
plate, and with the rich mitre. Someone with a mocking 
laugh tied about his head the golden band or crown inscribed 
in Hebrew characters with the words: “Holy to the Lord.’’ 

The poor wretch looked so pitiful and frightened, as 
he was being tricked out with these royal robes, t^at Gad 
suggested fastening a mask on him, and having found one 
with a long white beard, they covered his face with it amid, 
with jests and laughter. They then instructed him to offer 
sacrifice, and to sprinkle the blood in the Holy Place, and 
walk in procession at the head of the priests.* 

Elkanah was stunned: “What is the wrath of Rome to 
the wrath of an insulted God?^^ 

*JosephuiS, Wars of Jews. Bk. 4. Chap. 3. 


170 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTEE XXIV. 

A KIND OF EELIEF. 

S the months went by, the hunted, hiding men of 
Jerusalem determined to rid themselves of the 
robbers. 

Ananus, one of the best beloved High Priests was in 
secret counsel with Elkanah: ^^Elkanah, it were good for me 
to die before seeing the house of God so full of abomina- 
tions; and yet I, a High Priest, still am fond of living and 
cannot endure to undergo death for Jerusalem, which would 
he my glory.^^ 

^^Beloved Ananus, we he too old for war; let the 
younger hear the sword; rather let the Eoman Vespasian 
come and deliver us from these enemies of our own bowels.’’ 

^^By God’s strength I myself shall smite the impious de- 
filers of the sanctuary though I die.” 

Elkanah trembled at the threat of the resolute old man. 
Did Ananus know that Gad was among the defilers?” 

Ananus does as he had vowed. At the head of a vast 
multitude of armed citizens he smites the robbers. They 
leap out on him with stones and swords, and a hand-to- 
hand struggle stains the pavement with blood. Back the 
robbers are driven into the temple area; fiercely the men of 
Jerusalem cut and thrust till the temple court is strewn 
with dead bodies trampled under foot. Above the clamor 
rises the clear voice of the hoary Ananus urging to strike 
for God and His sanctuary. Back into the priest’s court, 
up the high steps, the robbers are beaten. The sanctuary 
is daubed with blood. The great doors in the wall that en- 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


171 


close the priest’s court are suddenly closed and the robbers 
are safe within them. 

^We may not hatter the gates of the sanctuary hut 
we will hold the robbers prisoners until they surrender,” 
so spoke the venerable High Priest, and at his bidding six 
thousand men stood guard in the temple area.* 

Do you see that knot of men conferring together on 
the day after the fight? They are Ananus and Niger and 
Abner and a new ally, John of Gischala. Eleazer is not 
with them; strange to say, Eleazer the Priest has taken sides 
with the robbers; which extraordinary fact we will presently 
explain. 

John of Gischala is speaking: will act as your am- 

bassador to these robbers. By the sword of the Almighty 
I will pursuade them to evacuate the temple and city.” 

^^We appoint you, and may God turn their hearts as 
the rivers of water are turned in the south,” was the 
fervent response of the noble Ananus and of all the 
leaders. 

The deceitful John of Gischala as hearer of a message 
offering terms of surrender is admitted within the great gates. 
Mark his perfidy! ^^Brethren,” he says, am sent to urge 
your surrender; hut as a Jew and a zealot I counsel no sur- 
render. You are not the enemies of Jerusalem, hut rather 
Ananus and the eminent men of this city who have sent 
for Vespasian, the Eoman tyrant. My counsel is: write a let- 
ter immediately to friends beyond the J ordan to come to your 
assistance lest Jerusalem fall again into the hands of the 
Eomans. Be sure if you surrender Ananus will show you no 
mercy.” 

Immediately a letter is written and signed by Eleazer 

*Josephus, Wars. Bk. 4. Chap. 3. 


172 


THE DYING LAMP; 


and many of the besieged, imploring help of the Idnmeans 
in the name of God and Jerusalem.* 

The letter reaches the Idnmeans beyond the Jordan. 
Three days Ananns not knowing of the treachery, waits 
for Eleazer to surrender; on the evening of the third day 
Abner was disposing the guard upon the wall of the temple 
when he heard a shout, and roar of mighty voices, like the 
roar of mighty waters, from the crest of Olivet. The shout 
was answered by the imprisoned band in the court of Israel. 

^^Who are they?” gasped Abner and his fellows. 

^Tdumeans!” The tidings flew over the city: ^^The 
Idumeans are come to fight for Eleazer.” 

Under the city wall they camp; from the top of a tower 
Ananus and Mger and Abner look down on a host of twenty 
thousand men. 

^^Why do you come?” was shouted down to the com- 
manders. ^Ts it not to support a sink of wicked wretches 
that have trampled on the law and desecrated the temple 
and slain the just men of Jerusalem?” 

Then one of the commanders answered: ^TTou have shut 
up the patrons of liberty, but you yourselves are ready to 
open your gates to the oppressors, the Romans. We call upon 
you to repent.” 

As they shouted back and forth, the heavens were be- 
coming black with clouds and soon such a tempest was sweep- 
ing the city that those outside hugged the walls and those 
within, both the imprisoned, and the guards, cowered under 
cover. The city was soon shrouded in darkness and the 
fierce wind blew the beating rain with wild blasts against 
the towers and battlements and through windows and doors. 
Increasing in violence, it strewed bazaars and loose struc- 


*Josephiis, Wars of Jews. Bk. 4. Chap. 4. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


173 


tures about the streets and over the roofs and beyond the 
city walls. As night came on the thick darkness was lighted 
by dazzling bolts of lightning. Midnight and midday with 
instant and awful contrast continued alternately to vest the 
now black, now glistening city as the long streams of light- 
ning touched Olivet and Scopus and the mountains around. 
Immediately with every bolt sounded a deafening crash, as 
if a vast sledge had smitten some mountain top about. The 
fury of the tornado made every heart forget for the time 
the horror of the fratricidal war.* 

As the storm increased in power the occupants of El- 
themus’ house instinctively gathered in one room: Elkanah 
and Judas, Eachel and Euth and Elule and John and Ben 
Ananus and little Paul. A yellow flame from a little oriental 
lamp lighted the awe-stricken company. They tried to talk 
but often lapsed to listen to the roaring and whistling of the 
wind, as gust after gust struck the city. 

^^Our Father,’^ said Eachel, ^fls able to make light shine 
out of darkness; out from all these strange and fearful events, 
good will come forth. Darkness covers the city like the 
blackness of this night, but these are the very tribulations 
our Lord told us should come upon the city; but after these 
tribulations His kingdom will come and it will be a glorious 
morning.” 

"T cannot imagine,” said John, ''anything more mon- 
strous than the condition of Jerusalem lately, as she devours 
her own vitals.” Elkanah groaned as he thought of Abner and 
Elthemus fighting against their brother Gad who was with 
EleazePs party. 

Through the minds of both Eachel and John ran the 
words of the Lord Jesus: "Tribulation such as hath not 


^Josephus, Wars. Bk. 4. Chap. 4. 


174 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


been, no, nor ever will be,^^ — but they held their peace. The 
roar and whine of the awful blast kept interrupting their 
conversation, and the company held its breath as successive 
bursts of the storm-power struck the city. Some of them 
descended to the rock-chamber below. 

^^One would think,” said Elkana^h, ^^that the Almighty 
was emptying his wrath on Jerusalem.” 

The tempest waxed fiercer and fiercer. Nervously those 
above walked about or sank down in the corners; it was now 
the third watch of the night. The rain was dripping through 
the roof. Sometimes they heard the crash of tiling and stones. 
All suddenly, a low rumbling sound was heard underneath 
their feet, that caused their blood to chill and everyone to 
look at the other in helpless terror. The building began to 
rock with a sickening motion. 

^^To the court,” cried John as he sprang for the door 
snatching up the sleeping Paul. 

Out into that drenching storm they rushed as the earth 
rose and fell for a moment or two with hollow sound. But 
the earthquake* passed and the walls stood, and they were 
about to seek shelter again when there came to their ears a 
blood curdling shout, — an uproar, as if a den of wild beasts 
had been let loose. The women ran into the house while 
John climbed the steps to the roof, in the torrents of rain. 
Tip from the earth rose an unearthly pandemonium;* shrieks, 
cries, yells as of hundreds of men butchering and being 
butchered. 

^^Oh, the Idumeans have entered the city; I know — I 
know some traitor has opened the gates;” with trembling limbs 
John returned with the appalling news. 

^^My God! My God!” cried Elkanah, ^^where is Abner, 
my son, my pride! Where are my boys!” 


* Josephus. Bk. 4. Chap. 4. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


176 


Eutli pressed little Paul to her breast and wailed aloud. 
Elule sank down by the side of her father speechless. No one 
noticed Ben Ananus starting from against the wall and say- 
ing as if to himself: 

^^Woe! woe! to Jerusalem! Woe to the temple!” 

The storm was lulling. Again John climbed to the 
roof and about him on every side through the streets were 
the sounds of people flying; and in the darkness yonder the 
crash and cry of war. Where were the sons of Elkanah? 
Those hours from midnight till morning were long hours of 
anxiety. After the sun was up a knock coming at the door 
showed Abner and Elthenius spattered and stained from head 
to foot and with the air of fugitives. 

“What have I not seen since this day began?” burst 
forth Abner as he strode in. “The base treachery! The Idu- 
means, the vilest of our race, now hold the temple.” 

Straightway they barricaded the door of the home, and 
got everything in readiness to descend at a moment’s notice 
to the chamber below. 

“The city is now in their hands and they will show no 
mercy.” 

The house, like all the houses in Jerusalem that morn- 
ing, straightway became a fortress; sentry watch was kept. 
Every peaceable man in Jerusalem was to flght for his own 
home, and wife, and children. 

“They are devils from the pit of hell,” said Abner, “I 
saw them seize the venerable High Priest, the beloved Ana- 
nus, and with laughter bury their swords in his bowels; then 
one leaped on him as he fell and stamped upon him, and 
cried out: ^A noble patriot you are! A holy High Priest!’ 
And you, my father, they would treat you exactly so.” 

For days and weeks this mad revelry of the sword went 


176 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


on. Such of the eminent men as the Idumeans could find, 
they imprisoned, and then commanded them to join their 
‘^patriof^ party. When they answered: ^We are the true 
patriots,^^ the sword ruthlessly drank their blood, and their 
bodies were tossed over the wall unhuried. 

Every day to the Elthemus’ household and to all in 
Jerusalem, was an anxiety, — every night a terror. 

By turns the three men stood sentry at the latticed 
window watching for assaults. The scenes they saw as they 
daily stood on watch hegger description. Once Abner saw 
Gad with one of the hands of revelers that were now accus- 
tomed to roam the city. These hands of young men all 
dressed as women, — the black heauty-mark under their e}^es, 
their hair glistening with ointment, their necks laden with 
chains, armlets on their hare arms, half drunk, reveled 
through the streets, accosting any man they met; and if 
any dared resist their unspeakable impurity they whipped 
out their swords and ripped him open on the spot. The 
whole city had become a reeking Sodom and a slaughter- 
house. Dead bodies were lying unhuried on the streets. No 
man dared in day-light even to bury those whom the ''patri- 
ots'^ had slain. 

Suddenly conscience-stricken, the Idumeans leave the 
city,* and men like Elkanah heave a sigh of relief; but on 
their departure, John of Gischala held the city and under 
his license the black waves of rapine, lust and murder which 
promised at first to ebb a little, rose as fiercely and as high 
as before. 

One day as the men thus watched the house Abner said 
to John: "You say we shall have tribulation such as the 
world never saw before, but it seems to me we are having 
it now.” 


Josephus, Wars. Bk. 4. Chap. 5. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


Ill 


fear,” said John, ^‘^things will grow worse before they 
will grow better.” 

‘^1 know,” said Abner, ^^you preach that Jerusalem will 
he destroyed; but what then?” 

John was greatly surprised at the cool inquiry of the 
patriotic Abner; “Why, then we shall have a kingdom of 
peace, of love, of joy; and it will cover the whole earth.” 

“You mean you Christians will rule the earth? The 
absurdest folly ever uttered by mortal man!” and Abner 
with his old fire strode off to the roof of the house, for that 
was his habit when his feelings became uncontrollable. 

Not many weeks after this the attention of the house- 
hold was caught by great multitudes of people flocking to 
Jerusalem from the south. Thousands were coming up from 
about Hebron. They afterwards learned that the country 
about Hebron was being over-run by Simon Bar Giora, who 
had a vast army; those who would not make common cause 
with him were being stripped of all their possessions. His 
object was to resist the Komans. 

“The heaven-directed man,” said Abner and his asso- 
ciates in secret counsel after they had learned all the facts; 
“Let us send for him to fight and drive out the traitor, John 
of Gischala.” 

A message was sent. Simon Bar Giora in a short time 
comes with his whole army. The gates are suddenly thrown 
open to him and behold, Jerusalem has two armies of her 
own people within her walls; one reeking with blood and 
filth, and hideous with every conceivable crime, shut up with- 
in the temple walls; and the other, (God only knew what 
fhey would soon be guilty of) occupies the city proper under 
Bar Giora. 


178 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTER XXV. 

FATHER AND SON. 

NE single moon served to reveal to Jerusalem what 
kind of a Savior Simon Bar Giora was, whom 
she had admitted so trustingly. With multitudes, 
Abner and Elthemus had immediately on Simon’s entrance 
joined his army, and fighting straightway commenced 
against John of Gischala, intrenched in the temple. From 
the top of the house the women could see the battle rage 
daily about Mount Moriah. They could hear the whirr of the 
bow strings of the capapults, taken from Cestius, and the 
quickly following crash of the missiles against the marble 
walls and pillars. The scaling of the sacred walls by masses 
of troops, the repulse by the defenders, and the falling from 
the battlements of the struggling and wounded, were com- 
mon sights. Day and night for weeks together resounded 
with shoutings and cries of onset. 

“What building is that they are burning?” said Elka- 
nah one day after this kind of fighting had been raging two 
months. “Surely that is no other than the palace of Izates. 
I wonder that Simon Bar Giora should allow it.” But El- 
kanah soon ceased to be amazed, for burnings became an 
every-day affair. On one day it was the mansion of Simon, 
son of Ezra, and the next it was Niger’s house (Niger was 
one of the prominent leaders of the young patriots, who had 
been murdered by John of Gischala.) So the self destruc- 
tion went on. 

But a smoke rose one day at which Elkanah and all Jeru- 
salem might well smite the breast with horror. “Oh God 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


179 


of Jerusalem!’’ cried Elkanah with up-raised hands, ^^Simon 
is burning the city granaries; w'here now will the people 
look for food?” 

Abner strode home in a towering rage: ^‘1 thought Jeru- 
salem had at last found a deliverer in Simon Bar Giora but 
his valor is swallowed up in his folly. He orders the burn- 
ing of the city stores to prevent John of Gischala getting 
food! — a mere subterfuge; his heart is not right toward Jeru- 
salem.” Thus he vented his rage as soon as he entered the 
house. But to his father secretly he said ^^Eleazer is the true 
patriot; he consorted with the robbers only to keep them 
in check; there is with him a small band of men who love 
Jerusalem as the apple of their eye. I have just had a secret 
conference with him and I find we are altogether of one 
heart. Our only salvation now is, for all true men to com- 
bine and drive out both the filthy litter of John of Gischala, 
and the destructive brood of Simon Bar Giora.” 

That very night a little army of twenty-five hundred 
men broke from the two camps and seized the inner fortress 
enclosing the priest’s and women’s courts. The deed was 
unexpected, bold and successful.* About the sacred altar of 
burnt offering that devoted little band vowed to stand to 
the death for the deliverance of Jehovah’s holy place and the 
city. 

That same night a different scene was witnessed in the 
court of Elthemus’ house. In the darkness of midnight, for 
an hour perhaps, four men were carrying sacks of grain 
from one of the city graneries and depositing them in the 
room from which descended the covered shaft. 

On the next morning Elthemus said to his father: ^Tor 
this I paid Simon four hundred shekels of gold. He has 


Josephus, Wars. Bk. 5. Chap. i. 


180 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


sold to other friends also; to-day or to-morrow he burns all 
the remainder and then what will this be worth? By the 
golden altar, if this fray continues even two months more 
I shall make four talents in gold, (about $100,000.) 

As Elthemus predicted, Elkanah soon saw the remain- 
ing granaries with their priceless contents go up in flame 
and smoke.* 

^^Oh, Mother Jerusalem! what demon possesses thee to 
pluck the bread from between the teeth of thy children and 
cast it to the flames?’^ The old man bowed, and resting 
his forehead on his interlocked fingers that cushioned it 
from the jagged, unrepaired parapet wept helplessly. It 
seemed to him as if Jerusalem had gone stark mad. 

While Simon Bar Giora was occupied in storming the 
temple the eminent men that remained alive were not being 
hunted. Once more they had liberty to go abroad. The 
sights that Elkanah and John saw were heart-sickening as 
they now passed down the streets on which they had walked 
(and then only in flight) but once or twice during the year of 
the reign of terror of John of Gischala, (for these were not 
days but months we have thus only touched upon by a 
few words.) Broken doors, tumbled down walls, board- 
ed up windows, once screened with beautiful carved lattice 
work, ruin all about, met their eye; but about the temple 
was a margin of desolation, a charred, dreary space of heaps, 
made the better to fight the occupants of the temple. 

On his return Elkanah said to Kachel: ^^All this seems 
like a long, long, night-mare. Two years ago I was happy and 
rich and prosperous; now see to what I, with the whole city, 
am sunk! Could I ever have believed, whatever else transpired, 
that the hands of my sons would be lifted each one against 

*Josephus, Wars. Bk. 5. Chap. 1. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


181 


the other? But now Abner joins Eleazer’s hand who make 
the holy priest^s sanctuary their fortress; Gad sorts with 
the wretched men under John of Gischala who hold the 
great court and porches of the temple, and Elthemus is fight- 
ing under Simon Bar Giora, who holds the city; and each 
host is seeking to destroy both the others. Has the sun ever 
shone on such a spectacle before?* I am left alone.’’ The 
old man bowed on his staff without shedding a tear. 

Rachel silently wiped her heavy-ladened eyelashes and 
after a time said: ^^God comforts us, my brother.” 

Elkanah very slowly and pitifully: ^^There is no comfort 
in this world.” 

^^But this is God’s comfort: Tear not, I am with thee; 
be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will comfort thee; 
yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right 
hand of my righteousness.’ ” 

^^Ah, what good can He bring us out of such troubles?” 

Rachel paused: ^^Good?” She saw with a spiritual clair- 
voyance a possible eternal life for Elkanah, and in the end a 
glorious dawning light for the world. And she plucked cour- 
age to say: "Brother Elkanah, have you any faith in God?” 

"Oh, yes,” indifferently. 

"Why have you faith in him?” 

"Ah, Rachel, Rachel, one may not doubt the Almighty 
has some care for Israel.” 

'^ery true, and he has given proof of the riches of his 
love in sending Jesus the Christ to die for our sins. Jesus 
is indeed the very son of God, who has foretold these present 
tribulations and has also foretold that after them shall arise 
His kingdom which shall cover the whole earth; a most 
glorious kingdom and a very peaceful kingdom. It shall 

*Josephuis, Wars. Bk. 5. Cha;p. 1. 


182 


THE DYING LAMP; 


overcome all kingdoms and rule over them all and the honor 
of the nations shall be hrougiht into it. So while these dis- 
tresses and dangers encompass us, I pray for patience to en- 
dure to the end.” 

^^Rachel, my sister,” the old man spoke very seriously, 
^Vhy should your heart rest so confidently on the words of 
this Eahbi Jesus?” 

Eachel had long prayed for an opportunity like- this to 
open the Scripture to the hitherto self-satisfied man, and 
now from Moses and the Psalms, and the Prophets she pa- 
tiently that afternoon, while the battles were raging without, 
unfolded the meaning of the Scriptures. 

The soul of the old man was at last open to truth, and 
he saw as he never had seen before, that all the sacred writ- 
ings point to a crucified Messiah, who should be King of 
Kings and Lord of Lords. Often after this he sat with 
John on the house-top and while the sound of strife arose 
unnoticed about Mt. Moriah they talked of Jesus the Savior, 
— the great sacrifice for sin. 

The light dawned little by little upon him till at last 
he saw and believed, and at last he fully received Jesus as 
his Savior and Lord. One day in rapture he cried out as 
John spoke of these things: see! yea, I now see! I am 

saved by the blood of Christ! Simply that! I am accepted 
in the Beloved.” And after the truth dawned fully on him, 
am rich now; oh, I am rich now.” The old man’s tears flowed 
unchecked. ^^Once I was poor; now I possess all things.” He 
had no sooner bowed himself as a sincere follower of Jesus 
than his heart went out first for his daughter, Elule; for her 
he was much in prayer. 

The change in her father’s views greatly astonished the 
high-born daughter, but the alteration in his spirit was equal- 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


183 


ly astonishing to her. He was now full of hope: Jesus will 
save ns,” he would say confidently. 

^^Let us go to the temple that we may pray there,” he 
said one day to John. (Strange to say in the midst of that 
daily carnage, worshipers were allowed to come and go unmo- 
lested.)* As the two passed into the gate, Eleazer and his 
men were just sallying forth with deafening yells upon John 
of Gischala and his thousands. The cries, the hand-to-hand 
struggles, the clash of swords on shield, the dying 
groans, the pools of gore on the steps, the impossibility of 
stepping without trampling on the dead, bewildered them 
both. 

But above the steps, in the Court of Israel, surrounded 
by that awful din^ worshipers were standing and offering 
prayer as of old before the door of the sanctuary. The great 
altar of burnt sacrifice was sending up as always its smoke; 
the great carved olive doors of the sanctuary, overlaid with 
gold, were wide open into the golden, holy place; hut every- 
where were dead and dying men; the golden fioor was pol- 
luted with blood; lakes of blood stood on the pavement out- 
side; priests passed to and fro at their sacrifices. But for 
Elkanah this was now no place for prayer. He saw a priest 
just as he was stooping to cut the throat of a lamb, covered 
with a shower of ashes and live coals, as a great stone from a 
catapult struck and scattered the burning sacrifice. 

^Tjet us go:” Elkanah was trembling at the sights about 

him. 

Just then two men bore through one of the gates a 
wounded man toward the holy place. The man was Abner. A 
stone had struck him on the right side denting his armor and 
he was groaning heavily and spitting blood. The father and 


^Josephus, Wars. Bk. 5. Chap. 1. 


184 


THE DYING LAMP; 


John and a comrade laid him in a mantle and bore him home. 
The ribs of his right side were crushed in. The lung also 
had been torn. He was laid upon a bed; days and weeks 
must pass over the sufferer. 

The sick man very soon noticed the alteration in his 
father; for Elkanah did not mourn over his losses as of old; 
and he attended every want of his son very gently and with- 
out reproaches. 

One day as Elkanah sat by the sick bed on his rug he 
broached the uppermost subject in his heart. Abner, my 
son, the Holy Spirit has graciously opened my eyes; I see 
now most clearly that the Messiah foretold in Scripture has 
already come, and our people did to him as they pleased. 
I have been brought, to see that Jesus of Hazareth is the 
Christ of God. God has smitten me sorely, very sorely, but 
my losses are naught now, to my riches in Him. My prayer 
now is that my children may with me have eternal life in 
Him. What peace have I had in knowing that I am accepted 
of God, for Jesus’ sake!” 

Joyfully and with overflowing heartfelt gratitude the 
father talked, and often, after this to his sick boy. During 
those days of suffering they two pored over the Scriptures; 
while without, the three factions of Jerusalem, like three 
wild beasts, fought with each other and also vied with each 
other in murdering the peaceful citizens of Jerusalem. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


185 


CHAPTEE XXYL 
EOMAX VIEWS OF DESTINY. 

B et let us turn and look on Metellus again, far away 
in the north country. After the strange and 
shameful retreat of Cestius Gallus with his 
large army during which, under a pitiless shower of stones, 
javelins and arrows, six thousand of his men were killed, 
Cestius had been summoned to Achaia to give an account 
of himself in person to the Emperor. Meanwhile his 12th 
legion was sequestered awaitig its sentence and remained idle 
spectators, while Vespasian and his son Titus with 
their legions, the 5th, 10th, and 15th were vigorously prose- 
cuting the war in Upper and Lower Syria. At last the royal 
sentence of judgment concerning the disgraced legion was 
received. By it, all the subordinate officers were degraded 
to the ranks, and the entire legion was exiled for the rest 
of its time of service to the northern frontier of Armenin. 

Of Cestius Gallus, their commander, nothing was said 
nor indeed was anything ever heard by them concerning him. 
His fate was a mystery. Immediately after the arrival of this 
imperial edict, came the wild news soon confirmed, that Gal- 
ba, the commander of the Roman legions in Spain, was march- 
ing to Rome to seize the scepter. Then came the news that 
Nero had killed himself. In a few days the 12th legion was 
to start for exile. The long waiting, and the long-dreaded 
sentence, almost drove Metellus to suicide. He would make 
one more attempt to save his honor. He made a furious 
horseback ride to Vespasian’s camp for a final audience. The 
general, who had been his old commander in the Britain 



186 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Campaign, and who from the first had exonerated him from 
all guilt, now pitied him, but he bluntly added, can do 
nothing, at least nothing now.” Then he added jocosely, as 
if to salve over the wound his bluntness had made, ^^Of 
course, if I were Emperor, I would quickly give you justice.” 
^^Then there is no way out,” said Metellus as if talking to 
himself, while his eyes were bent despondently on the ground 
of the tent in which they were sitting. ^^The Fates seem 
to have so decided,” said Titus, who with his father Vespasi- 
an, was a friend of Metellus and present at the audience. 
^‘That is the cold comfort of a Stoic,” he continued, ‘'^some- 
time we may be able to give you better.” Then the three 
men lapsed into a rather painful silence, while the bustle 
of a great camp, preparing for bivouac, came through the 
canvas. Vespasian broke the silence, as one who has nothing 
special to say, but feels called on to say something. very 
singular incident occurred to me this day. Among the pris- 
oners taken was a Jewish general, who in a most courageous 
spirit, has defended this town of Jotapata. He requested 
to be brought to me, because he averred he had a message 
from his God to me. Very probably it was a device to save 
his head; but this was the strange announcement he made to 
me: ‘Dost thou send me to Nero? Are Nero^s successors 
till they come to thee still alive?’ How did he know Nero 
was dead? It is strange that he knew Caesar was dead, shut 
off so closely as he has been. Then he added, ‘Vespasian, 
thou art Caesar, Emperor, thou and thy son! Thou, oh, 
Caesar, art not only Lord over me, but over the sea and 
the land and over all man-kind.’ ” “Would thajt it were 
so!” warmly exclaimed Metellus. “The fellow affirmed this 
very confidently,” said Vespasian with a careless manner, 
then he added more seriously, “Of course my good tribune, 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


187 


if this good fortune should ever he mine, I would very quickly 
deliver you, and if at any time I am in the position to favor 
you, I shall do it. The fates are not always cruel.^^ ^^What 
could he more cruel than my fate! See how I have been 
helplessly driven for months said Metellus. 

Vespasian had a very familiar way, for he was an every 
day man, always approachable by his men, who in turn adored 
him, and he talked unaffectedly now as ever; ^^That felloVs 
message brought to my mind a story, which has slumbered 
in memory, and been well nigh forgotten. My father used 
to tell it to me, when a lad, as he patted my head: ‘Titus 
Tlavius,^ he would say, ‘Remember, some day you will be 
emperor;’ and this was the sign which I often heard him 
describe to his friends. An oak was growing in his garden when 
he married Yespasia Polla, my mother; immediately after 
their marriage three boughs shot forth from this oak. One 
was small and soon withered, one was quite large and green, 
but the third increased prodigiously and assumed the pro- 
portions of a tree. Consulting a sooth-sayer, my father was 
informed that the three boughs were his three children yet 
to be born in his house. The first meant a daughter, _ who 
should die early; that sign in sooth has come to pass, for I 
had a little sister and she died at a tender age. The second 
bough meant a son who should be successful as men are usu- 
ally accounted successful; and it must be confessed that that 
sign also has come to pass, for my brother is a general at 
Rome, a man of considerable power. But the third sign, 
of the branch that grew prodigiously and assumed the pro- 
portions of a tree, meant the third child, a son, who should 
govern the world; and that mea;nt me, my father said; but 
the story had almost passed out of my mind, doubtless there 
was nothing in it.” “But I believe that fate will make you 


188 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


emperor,” exclaimed Ms son Titns, entliusiastically; ^det ns 
wait, the fates will yet make yon emperor.” ‘^1 have waited 
for three score years,” langhed Vespasian. ^^Now Galha has 
distingnished lineage, it wonld not he nnreasonable for him 
to expect this good fortune, hnt onr ancestry is hnmhle; yonr 
grandfather was only a money-lender and collector of cns- 
toms. We came from the Sabine conntry. When my father 
told my grandmother, who didn’t believe in signs, what hopes 
he had for me, they say she replied sarcastically, ‘I 
see my son is in his dotage, while I, an old woman, still re- 
tain sonndness of mind,’ probably the old woman was sonnd.” 
^^Bnt why not yon father, now that Nero has gone and left 
no snccessor?” asked Titns, ^V^hy not yon my father as 
well as Galha?” 

remember,” said Vespasian, rather dreamily, ^^a tra- 
dition abont Galha that made Tiberins jealons of him. When 
he was a lad, in company with a nnmber of lads he went to 
pay conrt to the aged Angnstns, who in plav pinched the lad’s 
cheek and said, Won too, my boy shall have a taste of my 
power.’ They say that Tiberins, who was acquainted with 
the incident, when he came to the throne shortly after, took 
pains to consnlt a sooth sayer, abont the remark, who said 
that Galha wonld certainly become Emperor, bnt not before 
old age. They said that Tiberins langhed and concluded to 
let Galba’s head rest on his boyish shoulders.” ^‘^And I know,” 
said Titns, ^Vhen I lived in Nero’s honsehold that Nero was 
watching Galha with a jealons eye.” 

The aged commander of the Syrian forces had np to this 
point seemed to toss the snbject abont in mind as a trifling 
matter, bnt here his conntenance and manner became very 
grave. ^^Let me see,” he said meditatively, ^^seventy, — ^Galba 
mnst be now between seventy and seventy-flve years of age. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


189 


He was made governor of Eastern Spain when he was sixty- 
five years of age, that was eight years ago, which wonld make 
him exactly seventy-three years, and that is strange, for 
when I was in Achaia with Hero, who was wasting his time 
reciting poetry, (who could ever have patience to listen to 
those silly verses of his!) I remember a soothsayer there 
told him he would lose his throne. This so alarmed him 
that he consulted the oracle at Delphi, which responded, 
^^Beware of .the seventy-third year.^^ Hero took it for granted 
the oracle referred to his own seventy-third year, but, (and 
the commander gravely nodded his head) the oracle may have 
referred to Galba, he is seventy-three years old just now. 
Hero flattered himself that he had forty years yet to rule, 
but Hero is gone. Should Galba come to the throne, and I 
would not wonder if he did, my chances would be put far, 
far off. I recall just now that when in camp in Britain, this 
story circulated among the officers, I thought little of it at 
the time. 

^‘Galba^s grandfather was performing expiations because 
lightning had struck a tree, when an eagle swooped down 
on the carcass of the sacrifice, and carried the entrails to the 
top of an oak. The aged Galba asked the soothsayers what 
this sign portended, they answered, ‘^One of your house will 
be the first man in Eome.’ ^That will happen,^ said the 
incredulous old man, Vhen a mule has a foal.’ ” At this, 
both Titus and his grayhaired father raised their hands in 
sudden astonishment exclaiming, simultaneously, ^That very 
thing happened yesterday. Wonderful!” 

Said Titus, ^^The muleteers and soldiers all ran together 
to see the sight, and everybody said some wonderful event 
was to happen.” my mind,” said the grave general 

almost in awe, ^^all these signs do appear to mean nothing 


190 


THE DYING LAMP; 


else than the elevation of Galha to the throne of the Empire. 
There seems to he a Fate behind our lives, a dark, mysterious 
power, which we cannot resist nor change, which shows 
occasional glimpses of itself in these capricious ways.’^ 

“I rememher,^^ said Titus, (for a spell from the world 
of mysteries had fallen on them), ^Vhen living at the palace, 
to have heard Nero tell this story: Shortly after the mar- 
riage of Livia to the Emperor Augustus, they paid a visit 
to one of her country residences at Yeii. While there, an 
eagle flying overhead dropped into her lap a white hen that 
had a sprig of laurel in its mouth. Thinking such a strange 
occurrence might portend some great event, she carefully kept 
the hen, and as carefully planted and guarded the laurel. 

“The brood of the hen became very numerous. The sprig 
grew to he a large laurel tree, and from that tree each of the 
four Emperors has plucked the branches for his laurel crown. 
Taking the thought from her each planted a sprig from 
his laurel wreath, and all the sprigs grew, but just before 
Tiberius was suffocated to death in his bed, it was observed 
that his tree was withering and it died. Sure enough Tiberius 
left no son to take his place. 

“Caligula, his nephew, on coming to the throne also 
planted a sprig from his wreath, and it grew, but before his 
assassination it withered and died. It plainly portended that 
he should leave no heir and he left none. 

“Claudius, a step son of Augustus, when, he took the throne 
also planted his sprig, which flourished for a time and died, 
and in sooth he had no issue, so after he was poisoned by his 
wife, Nero became Emperor. His sprig grew many years and 
finally died, but as I heard Nero talk about it I thought: he 
cares not a fig whether he has a successor or not so long as 
he himself lives' and is Emperor. ^ 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


191 


^^When I was in Eome a year ago I noticed the old tree 
itself planted by Livia, in spite of every care, was dying; 
also I learned that the whole brood descended from the white 
hen had, by some mysterious disease, all died off. The 
people through all the city were alarmed and felt that this 
portended some grave calamity to the state. I heard it 
whispered that the soothsayers had agreed that it signified 
the extinction of the great Julian line.^^ 

^^Mark this/^ said Vespasian decidedly, interrupting him, 
^^Nero was the last of that line, that sign is certainly ful- 
filled. I remember now as it were yesterday when Glalba 
entered on his office as Governor of Snain, an acolyte was 
assisting at one of his sacrifices, when suddenly his hair was 
seen to change in color from black to white. This strange 
occurrence the soothsayers declared meant a change of eov- 
emment. I am persuaded this greatly troubled Nero, for it 
meant they said, that a young man was to be succeeded by an 
old man. Nero was only thirty-one years of age and Galba is 
the old man, seventy-three years old this very year.’^ “But 
when the omens concerning you come true,^’ said Metellus', (at 
this the old warrior appeared profoundly agitated and Metel- 
lus noticed that his bronzed face turned ashen) then remem- 
ber me.” “When I am Emperor you shall not be forgotten.” 

The ex-tribune bade the old general and his son fare- 
well, and to him they gave their hands in friendly parting. 
So strong was the faith of his superior officers in signs and 
omens that Metellus, who had naturally a well-balanced 
mind and had regarded all such stuff as mere childishness, 
was seriously infected for the first time in his life with their 
superstition. “This very night,” said he, “I will visit the 
soothsayers tent and learn the meaning of those three casts 
of the tali in Antonia.” 


192 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


This he did. All alone with the soothsayer in his tent 
he made a clean breast of his love alfair: explained how, with 
this desire for the Jewish maiden he had asked his men in 
the tower of Antonia to cast the tali thrice. 

was so elated at the time by their first throw of a 
‘double six^ that I was foolish enough to say, Let it he twice 
out of thrice; for the first showed a double six, but the next 
proved to be a ‘double one,^ and the third showed one talus 
leaning on the other, and gave a one and a six.^^ 

The soothsayer listened with a rapt air, then throwing 
his mantle over his face he stood; and after a silent moment, 
uttered solemnly the words, “Ex divis,^^ meaning that the 
dice gave a vague augury. Then he swayed this way and 
that, chanting rapidly: 

‘The augury coucernis the years, 

The years are lew and the years are many; 

One year foMows another, 

Disapipointment leans heavily on one. 

But triple fortune blesses him 
Who counts not the years.’ 

“How long/' thought Metellus “as he paid his heavy fee, 
how long shall 1 wait for her? But I am ‘not to count the 
years.^ 

According to the imperial edict the shattered ranks 
of the 12th legion (all that was left after the headlong re- 
treat from Jerusalem of the ten thousand that aided in the 
siege of the city), amid the jeers and derisive songs of the 
army of Vespasian and Titus, started on their march to the 
frontier posts of Armenia. There they were to guard the em- 
pire from the incursion of wild tribes that were in the habit of 
committing depredations on the cities of Asia Minor. We 
have no space to tell of the loneliness, the longing, the bit- 
terness, that filled Metellus' cup as the months followed one 
another. Something more than a year of this dreary waiting 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


193 


had gone when a messenger arrived in haste from Syria, 
^^itellns has been slain, Vespasian has been declared Em- 
peror and you are ordered to report immediately to Titus 
in the province of Galilee.” 

History had been forming fast since the legionaries had 
been in Armenia, and he shut out from the world had only 
learned the hare facts that within fifteen months, three men, 
Galha, Otho and Vitellus had sat on the throne of the Cae- 
sars. How he learns that the army has declared for Ves- 
pasian. With a great joy Metellus clattered hack with the 
courier over mountains and down the valleys, riding almost 
constantly day and night towards friends and honor and 
Elule. Arrived in camp, the moment Titus grasped his hand, 
he said: ‘^^Tribune, (this meant restoration to rank) the third 
branch has at last become a great tree.” 

The tribune was indeed restored to his rank and Titus 
made him one of his own staff. Then did a light break on 
Metellus’s life: honor and hope. Afterwards in talking over 
the occurrence of the months, Titus told Metellus about 
two marked omens, which had been reported throughout 
the armies and had greatly assured them in declaring Ves- 
pasian as Emperor. 

One was, that while the struggle between Otho and 
Vitellus was disturbing the city of Home, the statue of 
the great Julius Caesar was found one morning to have 
turned about and faced the east. ^^The entire army believed 
that the fates pointed thus to my father.” ^^Another still 
more emphatic portent occurred when the two armies of 
Otho and Vitellus were about to engage in battle at Bedria- 
cum. Two eagles met and fought in mid air over the battle 
field. When one had killed the other, behold another eagle 
came flying from the east and put the victor to flight. 


194 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


^^The soothsayers affirmed that the third eagle was 
Vespasian, my father. So the armies of the East and West 
with one acclaim, hailed him as Emperor. Galilee is well nigh 
subdued and we move immediately on Jerusalem. A few 
weeks at most will he sufficient to reduce that pestiferous 
city.^’ ^^And then V’ thought Metellus, — his already bounding 
heart gave its answer of hope. He sat down and penned the 
following letter: 

At Ptolemais, the 1st day of March, A. U. C. 825. 
My darling Elule, — my Savior: 

Are you still alive? A strange fate has for a long, long 
time sundered us. When I saw you standing on the house- 
top so long ago, 1 said ^^To-morrow you will be mine.” Some 
strange power tore me from you; hut I pray, — not forever. 
I am now with the army of Titus; we soon shall he marching 
to the city. Do not fear. When we reach you, do you and 
Abner, and your father’s whole household gather in one 
house and let your white mantle he hung over the narapet. 
I will see it. The days seem very long. You cannot know 
how much love is breathed into this epistle. 

Your impatient lover, 

Marius Metellus. 

This he dispatched by the hand of a captive Jew to 
whom he promised a great sum, together with his own 
freedom and the freedom of his wife and children, if he would 
deliver it and bring a message from her. But the messenger 
never returned. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


195 


CHAPTEE XXVII. 
WOESE AXD BETTEE. 



OE more than a year the unparalleled tragedy of Jew- 
ish national suicide had been dragging on, and the 
Eoman officers often counseled haste in the cap- 
ture of J erusalem. The answer of the astute Eoman general, 
Vespasian had been: ^Tf we go now we shall cause our enemies 
to unite; if we wait and rest awhile and subdue the smaller 
towns, we shall have fewer enemies when we reach Jeru- 
salem. God acts as general of the Eomans better than I 
can and he is giving these Jews up to us without any trouble 
of ours.^^* 

When at last Titus appeared with his army before the 
walls, the conjecture of his father was realized. Eleazer 
and Simon and John who had been fighting one another 
like wild beasts', now clasp hands against their common 
enemy. 

Titus said: will impress the city with my power, and 

perchance they will surrender without a siege.^’ Then Jeru- 
salem from its house-tops saw a magnificent spectacle; sev- 
enty thousand men in full armor marched round and round 
the city, down the valleys and up the hills. First the aux- 
iliaries on foot, then engineers for constructing roads, 
camps, etc.; then the mules having baggage, with a support- 
ing body of footmen; then Titus with his staff all richly 
dressed, riding caparisoned horses; then the cavalry, each 
man leading his horse; then the tribunes and lesser officers; 
then bands of trumpeters gaily dressed, each band under a 


Josephus, Wars. Bk. 4. Chap. 6. 


196 


THE DYING LAMP; 


silken standard; then the imperial golden eagle borne aloft 
in front of the vast body of light-armed troops armed witli 
bows and arrows; following them the unnumbered ranks of 
the heavy-armed, with broad swords and shields and pikes, 
each rank six deep, followed by their baggage on mules; 
behind them mercenary troops; and in the rear a select body 
of Roman born; these all, to the sound of music, a long, 
glittering, bristling procession, had wound their way about 
the city for four days. When Metellus’ division of the army 
had first reached the crest of Mt. Scopus his eye shot straight 
for one spot near the center of the city. The sight he saw 
almost made him cry aloud for joy. There hung the white 
mantle. She was alive! Now, each time they made the circuit 
of the city as they came to the north side, his glad eye saw 
nothing else but the white mantle fioating in the wind. 

“How many do they number eagerly asked Abner 
as the hectic spot on his cheek burned brighter. (His father 
with all the family had been viewing the procession from the 
house top.) 

“Countless,” said his father. 

“Would God I had my strength,” huskily ejaculated the 
sick man as he dropped back again on his pillow while the 
great tears flowed down his temples. 

A messenger offering terms of surrender sent from Titus 
to the Jews was received with jeers of contempt and flying 
arrows. “We all die first,” said all the leaders. So the siege 
commenced in good earnest. 

“Steal into the city and take this message to that house 
with the white mantle,” said Metellus to a Jewish captive, 
one day; “If you return with an answer I will give you a 
great reward, if not, your son whom I hold here shall perish.” 

This was the message in substance: “Escape, all of you, 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN, 


197 


to-morrow night by the Ephraim gate. I will be there at 
midnight with a detachment.^’ 

The messenger went and returned: 

^Teace to you, noble Metellus, the Almighty who pre- 
serves the lives of his creatures led me in the perilous way 
and brought me safely to the house where dwells the Morn- 
ing Star of our people, and her beloved father. I presented 
the gift and delivered your message.” 

^Ts she well?” broke in the Tribune, ^Vhere is the 
message?” 

The man handed a parcel from his girdle which he had 
been fingering. Quickly Metellus unwrapped the silken folds 
in which it was wrapped and there lay a lock of her own 
hair, raven black, and also her written answer, which in sub- 
stance was: ^^Brother Abner is very sick and we cannot leave 
him now.” Metellus turned pale with emotion. “Gods! 
What a fate!” For a moment he was unconscious of the 
presence of the messenger hut a movement of the Jew 
broujrht him back to the present. “Is he very sick?” 

“Indeed, sir; a mere shadow of a man; he is dying of a 
wound in his side.” 

“The noble Abner!” Then: “Will he last long?” 

“In my judgment not till Passover.” 

“One month? Before that we take the city.” In an- 
swer to particular inquiries, the man described the whole 
situation as he saw it at Elthemus’ house. 

The scorned mercy of Titus had given way to engines 
of war. Towers and battering rams soon stood against the 
second wall, for the first wall, Agrippa’s wall, had quickly 
yielded. The famous battering ram “ISTico,” (the victorious) 
commenced there its doom-like hammering; and then was 
made that final defense of the Holy City by the Jews which 


198 


THE DYING LAMP; 


has probably never been equalled for valor in all the annals 
of warfare; such bravery in sallies; such recklessness of life; 
such deeds of ferocity by starved men; such persistency; 
such perfect confidence in their cause, the world probably 
never had seen before and never will see again. To the Ho- 
mans they seemed inspired, by the gods, with madness. 

As the war went on, John helped to carry off the dead, 
and care for the dying that fell from the walls, or were 
thrown back from the gates. As he was returning from 
one of these trips he happened to look up at the shower of 
arrows and stones flying over the wall, and there, exposed, 
stood his protege, Ben Ananus, sheer out on a battlement. 
He was in the act of lifting up his arms to heaven, and 
John could hear above the din, the weird wail: ^AVoe, woe, 
to Jerusalem! woe to the people! woe to the temple!” 
When he suddenly fell backward, hurled from his footing by 
a stone from an engine.* 

John lifted up tenderly the lifeless body and drawing 
it upon his back he carried it to the house; and digging a 
place under the great stones of the court, he and Rachel 
laid it away as they could. The pitying tears would come, and 
John said as the swathed body was covered: ^Tnasmuch as ye 
have done it unto the least of these ye have done 
it unto me.” ^‘llay his soul this day be with Christ in 
Paradise.” 

As the weeks of the siege continued the famine increased 
portentiously. A few days before Passover, how fresh the 
landscape looked to Rachel and Elule as they looked out on 
the mountains and valleys; but now, a strange sight met their 
eyes; up from all quarters of the earth pilgrims were flock- 
ing to the beleaguered city. 

^Josephus, Wars. Bk. 6. Chap. 5. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


199 


Father!’^ breathed Rachel involuntarily, ^^can it 

be!” 

The wily Roman commander was permitting thousands 
and tens of thousands, yes hundreds of thousands, to walk 
into that open death-trap under cover of the inviolable sanc- 
tity accorded to a religious rite. The city became choke- 
full. Two million five hundred thousand were crowded with- 
in the walls.* Streets, roofs, courts, tem.ple, all places were 
crowded with a moving, human mass thick as when a locust 
army drops on a town. Twenty persons, friends from distant 
countries were added to Elthemus^ household. A few days 
after the Paschal lamb had been eaten with its unleavened 
bread, the donkeys and camels (unclean beasts) began to be 
eaten, and then the awful fact of starvation dawned full upon 
those pilgrims and the inhabitants of the city. 

Rachel scrupulously measured out from their store, half 
a cab of grain each day, to each of the twenty guests, and to 
each one of her own household. A cab was about a pint. 
But the fact was, out from the window, those guests with 
Rachel and John learned to throw perhaps half their allow- 
ance to the starving passers by. The sight of those poor wretch- 
es scrambling and fighting for the kernels of wheat with the 
savagery of dogs soon became an every-day occurrence. In a 
few weeks a dreadful herd stood gathered always about the 
door, which Elthemus and the men about him, as they 
went to and from the defense of the wall, would drive off 
with their heavy pikes: ^^Begone! you curs!” 

^Tn the name of the merciful give us food:” Some rich 
man shows in his palm six golden shekels ($35 American 
money.) Elthemus seizes them, and presently reappears in the 

*Josephu8, Wars. Bk. 6. Chap. 9, says 2,700,000. Also see Bk. 5. 
Chaj>. 3, note for Lacitus statement. 


200 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


gate and stealthily transfers a little bag of grain to the 
bosom of the stranger. It contains an omer qts). Part 
of the grain he bought had been piled in the rock chamber 
and part sold. He reckons np his gains. ^‘Eight sacks sold 
for two hundred manehs ($5,000). "By the golden altar! 
I will get more than five talents in gold, ($115,000) I will 
get eight, (about $180,000.) Part of the grain still remains 
unsecreted. Elthemus did not growl at Eachel and John 
for throwing down part of their daily portion to the starving 
in the street, but when he discovered John’s plan to dole 
out part of his own (John’s) store, he was provoked. John 
had said to his mother: Ht seems to me the siege cannot 
last more than two months and I cannot endure the sight 
of such suffering. Let us carefully give from the one hun- 
dred and twenty measures that remain of ours one seah a 
day,” (a peck.) So John had a bag made of leather, and 
accompanied by two old men who were too infirm for war, 
he went out daily. These two attendants would beat back 
the crowd of women and children and old men, with their 
staves and make passage for John. To the wounded sol- 
diers he went, as they lay in desolate homes on bare floors, 
or on the temple pavement, or in the towers. To each he 
gave a gaschal, (a little handful). "May God return it to 
you a hundred fold!” "May the Almighty bless his angel.” 
Thus followed by benedictions he fed a hundred and sixty 
men a day from his peck. This roused Elthemus’ indignation: 

"You endanger our lives,” he said, "they will presently 
burst the doors and take all.” For his own unconcealed 
treasure he now dug a place in the court, transferring the 
earth to the roof and rolling it down. In the square vault 
thus dug, he placed nearly all the bags and covered the treas* 
ure with the great stones of the court pavement. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


201 


In the meantime Metellus kept np written communica- 
tion with Elule. Abner’s cough kept increasing; his bodily 
strength slowly diminished but his mind was active as ever 
and his interest in the war intense. Elkanah watched over 
his hoy with unwearied solicitude. The strange change 
wrought in the father touched and amazed the son. Abner 
never saw his father so happy and peaceful in all the days of 
his prosperity as now when the darkness was like night. 

‘^Why/’ asked Abner of John, as he and his father 
sat beside him, “Why do you believe in this Jesus?” 

“Because,” said John, “he is the Messiah whom all 
prophets foretold.” 

“What proof have you?” asked Abner with short, husky 
breath, as he raised himself on his elbow and fastened his 
large eyes on John: “Father says he is happy because his 
sins are forgiven, but I want to know why you believe this 
Jesus is the promised Messiah.” 

“Well,” said John, “You know the Messiah was to de- 
scend by generation from Abraham and through Judah’ and 
David.” 

“Yea,” answered Abner. 

John ran over the genealogical list and showed how Je- 
sus’ line was through these; “It was prophesied by Isaiah 
that he should be born of a virgin; Mary was that virgin, 
espoused to Joseph: Micah foretold that he should be born 
at Bethlehem; there Jesus was born in a stable. Malachi 
prophesied that a messenger should prepare the way before 
the Messiah; and John the Baptist was that messenger. 
Isaiah prophesied that the spirit of the Lord would rest upon 
him and he should be anointed to preach the gospel, — to 
bind the broken-hearted and to proclaim liberty to the cap- 
tives; Jesus Christ did these things. 


202 


THE DYING LAMP; 


^‘^Zechariah said that the king should come having sal- 
vation, lowly and riding upon an ass, and so Jesus rode into 
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. Isaiah’ foretold that 
the eyes of the blind should see, and the ears of the deaf be 
unstopped, and the lame man leap; and your father knows 
these things were done through Jesus the Christ. David 
prophesied that the rulers should take counsel against the 
Anointed; and so they did against Jesus of Nazareth. Isaiah 
said: ^As' a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened 
not his mouth;^ so Christ was silent when the}^ falsely ac- 
cused him. Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah should give 
his cheek to them that plucked off the hair and that he 
would not hide his face from shame and spitting; and so 
Jesus acted. David prophesied that they would laugh and 
say: ^He trusted in the Lord, that he would deliver him; let 
him deliver him.' Yea, David foretold the casting of lots 
upon his vesture and the parting of his raiment. All these 
things came to pass exactly as prophesied. Yea, David says: 
'They pierced my hands' and my feet;' and the Eomans cruci- 
fied him. Daniel foretold the very time of his death: He 
says — "The Messiah shall he cut off and have nothing after 
sixty-nine weeks of years from the going forth of the com- 
mandment to build the wall of Jerusalem;' and the nation 
of the Jews knows that Christ was crucified at the predicted 
time." 

Abner listened with all attention: "But, our Messiah is 
to deliver us from the yoke of the Eomans; so the Scriptures 
foretell." 

"Jesus said," answered John, "that His kingdom is not 
of this world it is of the heart, and He will save everyone 
who puts his trust in Him." 

"Amen," responded Elkanah, joyfully. 


TEE OLORIOUS DAWN. 


203 


is remarkable/^ said Abner, ^^how exactly these 
prophecies are fulfilled in this Jesus/’ 

^^Shall we pray to be led into the light?” asked John 
in the earnestness of his desire. Kneeling, he poured out 
his heart in simple supplication for the illumination of the 
Spirit in Abner, and that the Spirit might take the things 
of Christ and make them clear to him. 


204 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTEE XXYIII. 

TWO OE THESE PEEDICAMEXTS. 

HILE untold horrors were being enacted inside the 
city, the Eoman soldiers outside, were having a 
comparatively easy time. They were waiting for 
the furies: famine, fire and pestilence, to do their work for 
them. 

The soldiers had come into the habit during the last 
month or two of enriching themselves by catching deserters 
from the city as they skulked out in the darkness, and dis- 
emboweling them to get the rubies and pearls and diamonds 
thev had swallowed, and with which they had hoped to escape 
alive. The rapacity of the soldiers was such that all the 
vigilence and threats of Titus could not restrain these diabol- 
ical outrages. 

After this supply of precious stones and jewels seemed 
to have ceased, the soldiers amused themselves by catching 
and nailing to crosses all about the city, the crawling, starv- 
ing creatures who were accustomed to creep stealthily on 
hands and knees from the gates in the darkness to dig up 
grass roots, to which they had been reduced. 

If these crucifixions were not by command of Titus, they 
were done at his connivance as a fitting punishment for the 
prolonged and insane resistance of the city. On some nights, 
four hundred or even five hundred victims would hei caught, 
and crucified in the morning, in plain sight of the inhabitants 
of the city. 

The hideous circle of crosses about the walls grew to 
the proportions of a forest. Thousands of grinning skeletons 




THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


205 


and dried up mummified bodies stretched out their arms in 
the sight of their families and companions. 

The only shade from the burning sun, for the crucified, 
was the black clouds of crows and buzzards that clamored 
about them, unfrightened by the din of sallies and attacks. 
But the Eoman soldiers' themselves were having a good time 
— for soldiers; they were well fed, their dangers were few, 
they were simply waiting to grasp the untold wealth that 
certainly would be theirs. Dingy tented camps spread over 
the mountains to the north and east and west of the city, 
away from its awful stench. Between times of duty they 
gambled for money they already had, and treasure yet to be 
theirs, or perhaps they whiled away the beautiful twilight 
hours in telling stories of adventure. 

There was a company of six or eight officers lying in 
front of Metellus’ tent one evening; among them was a 
famous captive, a Jewish general, and also a German who had 
risen to the rank of tribune in the war against the Britons. 
They were talking about strange predicaments in which they 
had found themselves. Others had been telling their stories 
and now it was the turn of the Jewish general. 

He stroked his black beard with an affable smile: have 
had many, very many strange experiences, but I praise Jeho- 
vah for His miraculous deliverances. I think the strangest, 
most exciting predicament was that one when I was in a cave 
after your army battered down the walls of Jotapata and 
took the city by assault. 

H fled for safety to a subterranean chamber which opened 
out from a well about forty feet deep. In that underground 
chamber I found forty other men with a scant supply of 
provisions. We could not have lived there long in any event, 
but our hiding place was revealed to Titus by a woman. 


206 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Titus came and called down to us, offering us life and safety 
if we would surrender. 1 was for surrendering, for I argued 
that we had made a valiant fight, had done all mortal men 
could do for our country, and there would he no gain in 
staying down there and miserably starving to death. But 
the forty men were outrageously angry at this counsel. 

^Art thou so fond of life?’ they said, ^Canst thou 
hear to see the light in a state of slavery? We ought to take 
care that the glory of our forefathers may not be tarnished. 
We will lend thee our right hand and a sword; if thou die 
willingly, thou wilt die like a general of the Jews, if unwill- 
ingly, thou wilt die as a traitor to them.’ Then they fiercely 
rushed at me and I thought they would cut my throat im- 
mediately. But I looked this man in the e3^e, T am your 
General;’ I put my hand on anhther’s arm, ^You already 
have done me great injustice;’ to another, ^You know my 
deeds of valor, you know I have faced death a score of times 
without flinching.’ With such and like words I scarcely 
restrained them from thrusting their swords through me.” 

^^At last as the days went on their raging became so furi- 
ous, for they all said, Tt is better for us to die than to endure 
the shame of surrendering to Komans,’ that I, after com- 
mitting my life to Jehovah said, ^Since you are resolved to 
die, come on, let us commit our mutual deaths to determina- 
tion by lot. Self murder is a crime most remote from the 
common nature of animals, it is an instance of impiety 
against God our creator. God hates such sin. The crime 
is punished by our most wise legislators. Come on now, my 
counsel is, that each one draws lots and he who draws the 
first lot shall be slain by the man drawing the second lot, 
and he in turn shall be slain by his companion who shall 
draw the third lot, and he shall die by the man who draws 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


207 


the fourth lot, and so let Providence make its progress among 
us till the last man; who shall die either by his own hand or 
else both of the last two men shall thrust each other through 
at the same moment as they may agree/ 

^^In such a dire predicament was I placed by the furious 
raging and insanity, as it seemed to me, of the forty men 
in that horrible cave who disdained to live by the mercy 
of a Eoman. Now, wEo would hold faith with a maniac? 
A solemn pledge made to a man bereft of reason may rightly 
be broken without sin in the eye of Jehovah. So I argued 
with myself as I gave my right hand to each of the forty 
men that I would fulfill my contract, and when my turn came 
I would slay my fellow and in turn offer my breast to the 
sword. 

^ Jn the meantime I committed my cause to the Almighty 
to deliver my life. The lots were drawn one after another and 
soon the floor of that cave was covered with the blood of my 
companions. Willingly they bowed heads or bared their 
breasts as their lot called them, until strange to say the lot 
had taken all of them except two, myself and another, man. 

^^That was a most terrible sight in the dim light of our 
lamps. Thirty-nine bodies of men with the warm blood still 
flowing from the wounds lay about on the floor or were fallen 
in a heap upon one another. 

^^The Almighty deliver me from such another spectacle! 
Two of us only were left. Before we put forth our hands 
to take the lot which was to decide who was to kill the other 
I turned to my companion and said, T do consider it a most 
terrible sin against God and man to take the life of a friend 
or to take one’s own life. I bear you no grudge. I am your 
friend and you are my friend. We have fought for our 
country most bravely. Now, let us live and call aloud to the 


208 


THE DYING LAMP; 


Romans that we surrender. A kind of insanity has driven 
these men to their death, let us he reasonable and hold the 
life God has deposited in us.’ The man at last was won over 
to this, as it seems to me a sensible and just view, and so it 
was that Jehovah delivered me and him.” 

Every soldier in Titus’ army knew of the heroic defense 
of Jotapata and he knew that Vespasian and Titus held this 
man in peculiar esteem, not merely because he had foretold 
that Vespasian should he Emperor hut because of his own 
personal and remarkable deeds of courage in defense of that 
city. most sensible thing to do,” said one after he had 
finished. claim that it happened so by chance or else,” 
said the captive, ^The Almighty saved me by a providence 
that I might perform some great deed.” 

It was Metellus’ turn next and he was brought hack from 
a state of profound study into which the story had cast him, 
from gazing upward with his serious face to the stars, by the 
words of his friend, ^^E^ow Tribune, tell us your most thrilling 
predicament.” 

don’t know as it will be very thrilling to you,” said 
Metellus, his countenance suddenly relaxing into a smile, 
^T)ut it certainly was very thrilling at the time to me. For 
the first time and only time in my life I wanted to run from 
the enemy. The general here has told us about his surren- 
der. Well I wanted to do worse than that, I wanted to turn 
my hack on the enemy and run. 

''My enemy was a goat, and this incident didn’t occur 
when I was a hoy, either, hut only a year or two ago, and I 
was clad in complete armor too, but no sword, hut when 
that beast charged on me about the third time, had it been 
possible, I confess I should have left the standards on the 
field. You see after my cohort was cut off” (and the sudden 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


209 


recollection stopped the narrative a painful moment, there 
was sympathetic silence and then Metellus resumed with an 
unmoved countenance), ^^you see I was all alone on my way to 
Caesarea, being mounted on my good horse, when suddenly 
as I approached the city I was waked out of my reveries, (for 
I had been riding in a dream) by the sight of a goat, a huge 
fellow, which a youngster was pulling along by a rope tied 
about its horns. 

^^The boy had evidently been looting a Jewish house hard 
by, and clutched over his shoulder a long sack filled appar- 
ently with clothing. The goat was stubborn and planted his 
four feet in the gravel and was being pulled along by main 
strength. He must have had hard work to drag him even 
that distance from the house, when suddenly the beast re- 
versed his tactics, and assuming.* the offensive, leaped up as 
quick as lightning and struck that fellow behind, right in 
the center of that bag and sent him sprawling on the ground 
with the bag fiung ahead of him. 

H think by the fellow’s screams that the beast was stamp- 
ing the life out of him, when I came to myself and leaped 
out of the saddle and says I, ^Ho Sir!’ and gave the vicious 
beast a tremendous kick in the ribs that loosed his footing 
and sent him tottering the other side of the boy. 

‘^^You understand I was holding my horse’s bridle with 
my left hand. Well as quick as I can tell it, that goat had 
recovered himself and eyeing me, with one bound over the 
boy, he came like a bolt from a catapult. By my honor I 
know now how yonder walls must feel when Yico (the vic- 
torious) strikes them. 

had no weapon about me; my horse with a loud snort 
seeing the goat charging, swung away from me and pulled 
for his life. The boy had scrambled to his feet: ^Give me 


210 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


the bag/ cried I, as the goat was backing up preparatory to 
another shock and quickly I grabbed the bag to break the 
shock, when on came that goat triumphantly again. The 
horse now reared and plunged worse than before. 

had only one hand free; with that ha7id I raised the 
bag as a fortification, while my left arm was being almost 
torn from my shoulder by the plunging and rearing of my 
horse behind me. What would I not have given at that 
moment for my good short sword. The goat was coming on 
a second time. The boy sprang and grabbed in vain for the 
flying rope, just sprawled on the ground again, when the 
fellow let me have a second. 

‘T tell you gentlemen though the bag stood me in good 
stead and helped break the blow it was terrific. Quick as 
thought he was making ready for a third time. What in the 
world was I to do? Honestly, I never was in a more trying 
predicament in my life. Just at that instant while the goat 
was leaping toward me the third time my horse gave a pull 
that whirled me squarely around, hind foremost to the beast. 
I interposed the bag as well as I was able under the circum- 
stances — in fact as we soldiers say, ‘My rear was well covered’ 
— but for all that when the goat struck me the horse also 
lifted me off my feet, and between the two I went sprawling 
into the dust. Of course I let go of the horse and gave my un- 
divided attention to the goat. 

“I kicked and cuffed, and when he had stopped pawing 
into my steel cuirass and was backing up again I was mad, 
(as they say), and let him have a stone in his side as I gained 
my feet. The stone made him fairly wild. With a blast of 
rage he put his head down again. ‘Bag or no bag?’ ques- 
tioned I with myself. ‘I’ll try him with my naked hands this 
time,’ I said. In two leaps he was on me and I gathered 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


211 


myself to meet the shock and seized him with all my might 
by both horns. I am safe in saying I never was jerked so in 
all my life. He w'as a tremendous goat. The biggest goat 1 
ever saw. He certainly couldnT have weighed less than two 
hundreds pounds, but when he struck me, it seemed with the 
full force of a ton, and when he jerked he seemed to loosen 
every joint in my body. I thought he would jerk my eye 
balls out of their sockets. Finally I succeeded in landing 
him and then you ought to have seen those four legs. He 
rolled himself together and let fly all four at once in all direc- 
tions. If some men hadnT come up at that moment attracted 
by the boy’s cries, I have no idea what I should have done. 
Might have been there until now, for how to beat a retreat 
I couldn’t see.” 

During the recital the men of the company lay hack on 
the ground and fairly whooped out their approbation. ^‘"Now,” 
asked Metellus as he turned to the German tribune: ‘^Were 
you ever in a worse predicament than that?” This officer 
spoke Latin quite imperfectly and he did not happen to 
have so good an education as Metellus. ^^Well,” he answered 
genially, have been in as bad a fix only it was a ‘woman 
not a goat with me.” When the company came to attention 
he continued, ^Tt occurred during the campaign in the north. 
We had landed on the island of Angelsea near Britain. There 
was a lot of Druids there. We were to march to one of 
their towns and take it. I led my cohort up from the 
shore through a dense forest that came down to the water 
pretty well. Presently we found a wide road, or clearing like, 
which the people had made. As we marched along this pas- 
sage with the great trees on either side it seemed solemn 
and all was as still as the grave. We marched and marched 
through that solemn stillness keeping both our eyes open 


212 


THE DYING LAMP; 


when I thought I smelled smoke. Says I to the men, The 
enemy ain’t far off; close up!’ Pretty quick we came to a 
turn in the clearing and there in the open field (the ground 
sloped gradually to the top of a hill) there was the curiousist 
sight my eyes ever set on. It made us all stop breath- 
ing for a minute and I called them to halt, so we could 
sort of reconnoiter. 

^There before us drawn up in a long line across that 
field not more than two or three arrow shots away was a 
curious looking enemy. There was, I should think a hun- 
dred of the horridest looking old hags I ever saw. They 
looked just like the furies I have seen in pictures. They 
v^as naked to the waist with cloths hanging from their waist 
to their knees. Their hair was hanging in snake-like strips 
all about their shoulders and each old woman was holding 
high in air, in her right hand, a burnin’ smokin’ torch. , 
They kept still as statues but they looked awful. All them 
bony bodies and skinny arms and glarin’ eyeballs, they 
made me feel creepy like, and superstitious. 

^Tust behind them on the top of the hill was quite a 
company of priests; they seemed to be sacrificin’ something 
on a great altar. We found out afterwards it was a woman, 
we found her body half burned. Xow, those men just said 
nothin’ to us, they all seemed taken up a prayin’ and sacri- 
ficin.’ ^By our god, Thor!’ says I to my men, A¥hat does 
this mean?’ and I thought to myself, they are doin’ that to 
scare us off. So I gave the order to advance and form in line 
of battle. 

“We wheeled to right and left as we came into the open, 
and got nearer to them women and they looked more like 
demons than before; but never did they make a loud noise. 
I thought to myself, ^Now somethin’ has got to be done 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


213 


and whether you are demons from under ground or furies 
or just women, you’ve got to clear out. So I waved my sword 
and yelled to my men to charge and I started, when 
that line of women broke out into the most fearfulest shrieks 
you ever heard and danced first on one foot and then on 
the other and swayed this way, and that, and waved them 
smoking torches and threw up their other hands as if they 
would tear us to pieces. 

“I looked hack to my men and what did I see! Not a 
soul of them had advanced one step. They seemed just sim- 
ply scared stiff. There I was half way between them and 
those creatures. They looked so unearthly-like screamin’ 
and tearin’ the air that I felt a leetle bit scary myself, I 
confess that, when all of a sudden the tallest one of them 
rushed out on me full gallop, holdin’ that smokin’ torch 
ahead of her, and yellin’ like — I don’t know what. 

^^Should I run or should I run her through? To tell 
the truth I didn’t have no time to think what to do. Before 
I knew it she was on me a wavin’ that fire in my face and a 
ravin’ like a maniac. I turned and run, and she after me, 
like Tartarus let loose. I was scared for a minute for she 
could run as fast or faster than I could and she just slammed 
that torch down on my shoulders and burned my skirt behind 
and poked the torch up about my ears. 

‘‘It you will believe it there wasn’t a man in that cohort 
that dared move. I didn’t know but the men would part 
and let us run right through the ranks. Then said I, ^This 
is awful!’ and I turned with the fire a burnin’ my whiskers 
and I gave her one. 

^^That blow brought her to the ground yellin’ fearful. 
At that you ought to have seen that drove of women. 
They just screamed beyond all tell and tore down on us, and I 


214 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


said to them men, ^Kill um!’ But they didn’t need to be or- 
dered. They just battled with them women and their 
smokin’ torches, and soon the women was all a lyin’ around 
dead on the ground, their torches smokin’ amongst them in 
the grass. 

^^Then we went for them solemn, white-robed priests with 
white, venerable beards, and finished them up too. It did 
seem awful to butcher them too, they looked so grand like 
and they died a prayin’.” The German tribune paused. The 
laughter about him had died to a sudden silence and each 
face was turned to his. ^^Now,” said he, ^hf any one ever was 
in a queerer predicament than that, I never heard tell of it, 
and every word of it is true. I never ran from a man but 
I confess I have run from a woman. I kept that skirt a long 
while too, to show to my friends.” 

Thus the company told stories till the trumpet sounded 
for turning in, then every man sought his tent. The stars of 
the Great Bear and the Pleiades shone out from their depths 
of eternal peace. The full moon over Olivet touched the 
shining skulls of the crucified and outlined the cross-beams 
of their crosses, making thick, black shadows underneath the 
forest of crosses. 

The golden facade of the temple shone in the moon- 
light reflecting soft golden splendor out of the blackness of 
charred ruins. The hum of the camp died out, but the hor- 
rible noises from within the city walls never ceased. Now, 
they ceased not day or night. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


215 


CHAPTEE XXIX. 

THE FAMIXE. 

OWN with the door.’^ Axes and stones were cut- 
ting and battering the barricaded door, behind 
which Elthemus and the six who had been his 
guests since the passover were standing with drawn swords 
and ready pikes. A band of at least forty men of John of 
Gischala^s party were forcing their way to the hidden treas- 
ure of grain, about midnight. 

Within, the women and children in panic, were being 
lowered into the shaft, while the house resounded with the 
shouts and blows of the assailants in the court. Quickly, 
John helped one and another down; now it was the turn 
of the three old men, — Elkanah was last. From the uproar 
it was evident that the outer door had given way and the 
invaders were murdering the defenders. Oh, could John 
but place the stones, before the murderers burst in upon him! 
He lifted his heart up to God for help in that awful mo- 
ment. 

The yells, curses and dying groans that sounded in the 
court were appalling. John trembled like a leaf as with 
almost superhuman strength he lifted and deftly placed the 
great stones. Then he turned and walked toward the door, 
— ^toward the face of Death. With folded arms he stood 
commending his spirit to God, as the inner door crashed open 
letting in a torrent of furious men, their forms lighted with 
flaring torches: 

A chorus of voices, Where did he keep it?’’ 

Immediately their eyes caught sight of John’s torch- 



216 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


lighted form, standing erect in the middle of the room: 
^‘Here’s another!’^ Up flashed the dripping sword of the 
flrst man, in the light of his torch. For a second the sword 
was poised and then as the torch came near to John’s face: 

^^Ho! who are yon, John the Christian?” 

^‘1 am the man.” 

‘“^Hold fellows!” the desperado turned, ^^this is the Chris- 
tian who brought us food.” 

Fierce faces and smoking torches and drawn swords 
instantly encircled him; and the mob roared out threats and 
questions, then assured, a hush fell on the uproar. One man 
asked: 

^^Where’s Elthemus’ grain?” 

John pointed to a few sacks standing in the corner: 
“That is his.” 

They leaped for it as if it were gold dust. A sword 
slash or two, into each bag, and they were instantly de- 
vouring the pouring, precious seed. That was a scene for an 
artist. The yellow light of the torches shining through the 
smoky air, outlined the sharp visages of those starved men, 
who, besmeared with blood and dirt, with sheathed swords 
dangling at their sides, either sat about the wheat heaps or 
squatted against the wall, or walked restlessly to and fro, all 
cramming the grain into their mouths and grinding away 
as if for their lives. As they ate they mumbled to one an- 
other incoherently and rapidly. The grain rapidly disappeared. 
Handfuls were now stowed in their girdles. “Water, water!” 
was then their frenzied cry. The jars were soon drained and 
now the thirsty crowd began to move out to go to the pool 
in the city. 

“Where is your grain, Nazarene?” demanded one of the 
lingering men. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


217 


is hidden.” 

“Let him have it, let him alone!” shouted a number of 
voices. 

“Where are those two old men?” 

“I beg of you not to go up stairs,” answered John. 

“He’s hidden the old men and women up there, and 
grain too; let us go; Water! Water!” out they hastened to 
drink the muddy water of the pool, some to .perish from 
surfeit by its side. 

John, left alone, lifted his lamp with its little yellow 
light and went out into the court. Months ago he had be- 
come used to various sights of war and starvation, but when 
the feeble rays fell on the floor of the court, on the pallid, 
blood-stained dead all about, he staggered at the sight and 
closed his eyes. When he could control himself, he set to 
work and dragged the bodies of friends and desperadoes side 
by side all in a row against the wall. Having done this, he 
knelt by Elthemus’ body and bending over the half closed eye- 
lids, and smoothing back his blood-matted hair, cried like a 
child as he held the lamp again and again near the quiet 
face; recovering himself he barricaded as best he could the 
broken door against the morning rabble. Finally he went 
up stairs. 

“I know all,” whispered Abner hoarsely, “you need not 
tell me, Elthemus is gone. Is father safe and Elule and your 
mother, and all?” 

“Yes, all safe.” 

“John, do you remember one day you were preaching 
in the temple and you said Mesus wept over the city’ and 
that Eleazer interrupted you by saying Jerusalem wants no 
one to weep over her?”’ 

“Yes. I remember his words distinctly.” 


218 


THE DYING LAMP; 


while I lay here to-night hearing all, I thought 
of those words. Oh, my brother John, if Jerusalem had 
only known the time of her gracious visitation! But it was 
hid from her eyes.” 

This was not the first intimation that Abner had given 
of his change of heart. His eyes little by little had come 
to see the truth that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. 

Not till the morning broke would John nermit the com- 
pany to come forth; he had told them the facts that night 
in the rock chamber, but the morning sun revealed the 
ghastly scene in its bareness to their horrified sight. 

Elkanah and John dug a deep trench in the qourt and in 
one common grave laid thirteen bodies, six friends and six 
robbers, and by their side was laid the precious clay of the 
noble Abner. That very morning before day a profuse hemor- 
rhage had set in, and when the light dawned it shone on 
his peaceful face. 

^Mohn,” he had said, ‘^donT call father or Elule, they 
are safer down there in the chamber.” Then he gave his 
farewell messages; and then without a tear: H expected once 
to see my Jerusalem free, but to-day I shall see the glorious, 
heavenly Jerusalem; I shall see my Savior; John tell Eather 
that I receive Jesus the Christ as my Savior. I thank you.” 
These were his last words. 

It was a simple Christian service uttered that morning 
over the dead, albeit the cries of war and the thundering 
of the victorious ‘^Nico” filled the air. 

The veil of the future was lifted by the servant of 
Christ and beyond pain and death stood forth the resurrection 
and the life, and the splendor of the City of Peace. 

After the service, Elkanah and John were obliged to bear 
Elule to the roof and lay her on rugs. As she lay there in 


THE GLORIOUS DAWH. 


219 


a long swoon a strange halo appeared about her forehead; 
John bent and lo! her raven hair was turning snow white 
about her forehead. 

Down against the wall little Paul sat, — a little old man, 
by the side of his mother. The long confinement and starva- 
tion diet showed in his high cheek hones and pinched face, 
and long, small neck, and stick-like legs, and yellow-brown 
skin. He did not cry; he sat in silence by his weeping 
mother. 

^‘'How that our beloved Abner is gone,” said John that 
day, ^^nothing binds us to stay here, we may flee to Metellus.” 
But strange to say no messages now came from Metellus as 
the days went on. They tried means to let him know the 
facts, but all failed. The reason was a mystery to the house- 
hold; and to escape without his protection, would, they knew, 
be almost certain death. This providence was the hardest 
test of faith that had come to Eachel and John. In a room 
together they prayed: ^‘^Oh, Father, for Jesus’ sake bring 
deliverance from this living death.” So they both prayed 
in agony of soul. But they both rose without receiving light. 

Another day they prayed: ^Tf indeed we have stood for 
thy Son Jesus in the midst of the city, oh, for his sake 
send speedy deliverance.” They both rose and were amazed 
at the darkness. How great was the strain on John’s faith! 
The distribution of grain with the old men for attendants 
was perfunctory. Did rebellion rise in John’s heart as he 
mechanically poured food in skeleton hands? He prayed. 
As he walked, he prayed. He barely heard the husky voices 
of his beneficiaries, for his soul was silently going up for 
help for his own self: ^^Oh, Father, thou wilt with Christ 
freely give us all things, help! Oh, help!” 

Another night Eachel and John prayed again: 


220 


THE DYING LAMP; 


yield to thee; not our will, but Thy will be done.” They 
rose. 

think,” said John, have God’s answer; it came 
very strongly: ^Feed my lost sheep.’ ” 

^Tt was God’s voice to both of us,” said Eachel. 
had the same impression: Teed my lambs.’ ” 

The next morning John went directly to Eleazer and 
asked for a guard of a score of trusty men, whom he would 
feed, to guard his door; also for a body guard of four armed 
men who should accompany him in the distribution of grain. 
Eleazer was very glad to grant his request. John had acted 
none too soon. A plot had been laid by John of Gischala’s 
men to find his hidden grain that night. 

FTow, day by day, saw John and Eachel accompanied by 
their guard, go forth into the city. Thrice every day they 
took a full ephah, (nearly a bushel) of wheat and passed 
among the living skeletons. It seemed -to John like a sacra- 
mental service. As he doled out the tiny cupfuls, he said 
aloud: “Jesus the Christ sendeth thee bread,” or, “Whoso 
believeth on the Son shall never perish;” or, “Jesus said: T 
am the living bread that come down from heaven.’ ” 

In after years he often wondered how he and his mother 
endured without sickening, the sights that daily came under 
their eyes, or how all that hot summer, they could breathe 
the air laden with intolerable stench from the dead bodies 
lying unburied in the courts, and closed rooms, and streets, 
without falling under pestilence. Their daily experience 
through the heated term of the summer was a more or less 
ghastly repetition of the experiences of one day, which was 
this: 

In one pretentious house they found every body lying 
dead but the father,— an aged rabbi; he, insane, sat on hk 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


221 


rich divan, with a roll of the Scripture in his hand; and 
he spent his day repeating alond the writing: ^^The Lord 
hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce 
anger; — they have shed the blood of the just in the midst 
of her; — our end is near; our days are fulfilled; our end 
is come/^ This he repeated over and over and hardly glanced 
at the grain poured out at his side. 

In another house a soldier and four little children were 
chewing the hide they had just ripped from his shield. The 
father burst into tears at the sight of his children scrambling 
and fighting for the wheat. 

Through the open doors they stepped over dead bodies 
lying in their blood breeding flies and pestilence.* Pitiful 
prayers, hoarse whisperings always surrounded them in the 
street, sometimes blessings followed in their wake, but oftener 
the sound of snarling and quarreling by human beasts. John 
kept saying to himself: ^T^eed my sheep;” and when they 
heard little bunches of bones whining at withered breasts, 
Eachel would pour out a heaping measure and say: 

He feedeth his little lambs.” It was enough to those two 
kind hearts! If the starving forgot to give thanks, it was 
enough! Their Lord was walking with them. 

So each day for five long weeks, through the heated 
month of July and up to August, Eachel and John gave 
away food, increasing the amount as the need increased. 
Through those indescribable days, thousands daily dropped 
dead in the streets, and the little band walked through a con- 
tinual charnel house of unburied dead. 

The Jewish soldiery, now almost mad with starvation, 
committed unheard-of deeds. John saw a palace in which 
eight thousand five hundred people had taken refuge burned 


^Josephus. Bk. 5. Chiaip. 12. 


222 


THE DYING LAMP; 


to the ground with, all its inmates. He began to tremble 
for his own safety, lest the good will of Eleazer would not 
avail. How the Acra wall began to give way under the 
ceaseless battering of the rams. People and soldiers were 
leaving that part of the city for Mount Zion. As the wall 
threatened to fall, the stampede became universal except that 
the Elkanah household made no move. The night that fol- 
lowed this day of panic was fuller of thrilling danger for 
John and his company than any he had seen. His guard had 
been called off and the unguarded house was exposed to the 
depredations of despairing, men. The revelry of blood now 
whirled with the ecstacy of despair. Among one band of 
plunderers that invaded the house were members of his old 
guard; they demanded his remaining wheat; John showed 
them the vault and they made off with all the sacks. Hot 
long after, another hand of six men fiercely demanded food, 
or they would brain him. They were not to be trified with; 
at that instant three gaunt figures in white, three daugh- 
ters of one Maneus, with a loud, maniac cry appeared at 
the door: ^‘‘The time is fulfilled, the four hundred and 
ninety days are at an end.’’ Thus the three wailed as they 
stood at the open door. Catching sight of John confronted 
by the robbers they suddenly rushed in like three demons, 
with wild, diabolical fury, at the six men shrieking: 

'^What do you with this servant of the Messiah!” Their 
sudden appearance, fearful looks and shrieks so terrified the 
men that they fied before the spectres could lay hands on them. 

So, in one way and another, John was kept in what 
seemed to him almost a miraculous way, through all the 
repeated perils of that long night. 

In the morning to the victorious Eomans, he hung again 
the white signal over the parapet. Perhaps Metellus was 
still alive and would see it. Its corners lazily rolled in the 
stifling air. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


223 


CHAPTEE XXX. 

EELEASE. 

HE white, lifeless signal — the only hope by God’s 
grace of the imprisoned company, made the 
Tribune, who in vain had sought communication 
during those indescribable weeks, almost sing for joy. 

From the top of the house John saw on that thrilling 
morning, the wall of Acra fall, and over the heaps of ruins 
the incoming stream of conquerors. As stubble sinks away 
under the crackling, creeping, widening fire-circle, so sank 
the starved thousands under the gleaming, sounding steel. 
John’s eyes swam with a mist in his intense excitement. 
The Eoman bands are now in his street, and he is there, 
thank God — the brave Metellus, — swiftly pacing with his 
legionaries toward the house. John hastened down and met 
the Tribune at the door. Metellus started as he looked 
him in the face: 

“Is this John Ben Amos?” 

John held out his right hand:“ Peace to the noble Metel- 
lus. I am he.” 

‘^Ts she alive?” Metellus was as pale as John. 

“The Lord hath kept us; she is alive.” 

The commander stationed his hundred men at the door 
and following John into the house, looked wildly about: 
“Where is she?” 

John closed the door, and stood, and lifted his face 
to heaven and gave thanks. The great stones in the floor 
were lifted: “Elule! sister Elule! God has saved us.” 

“Elule! My darling! Elule!” a deep voice immediately 



224 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


followed John’s. Metellus was about to catch hold of the 
ropes and swing himself down, hut John restraining him, 
he kneeled and bent over peering into the black shaft, 
crying like a child. 

Presently the company began to come forth, — ^Eachel 
and Euth first. ^The men will bring her,” said Eachel. But 
in a moment the ropes creaked with the heav}^, swinging 
weight of Metellus who could he restrained no longer, and 
while the others stood weeping for joy the stronsf man reap- 
peared, bearing the light burden on his bosom; when he 
had gained the floor he held her as a mother holds a sleep- 
ing child, and gazed at her wan face and closed eyelids and 
snow-white hair, while the silent tears rolled down his brown 
beard; and he kissed her again, and again, and again. After 
a little while he said: ‘^Have you treasure?” and calling a 
Decurion and his ten men, he entrusted to them the bags 
of gold brought from the chamber, and such heirlooms and 
bundles as they chose to carry. Forth toward the fresh 
air, and sunshine, and liberty the little company started, sur- 
rounded by panoplied, sturdy Eomans. They climbed over 
heaps of stones and of dead bodies; Metellus carrying his 
burden. They made their way through such sights and 
sounds in the doomed city as one would think Hell itself 
had vomited forth its terrors into the streets. Once out of 
the walls they passed toward Olivet where Metellus was en- 
camped; they were obliged to walk through the line of thou- 
sands of crosses with their victims’ bodies or skeletons still 
hanging on them. The Eomans had crucified their prisoners 
till there was no more wood for crosses.* But, having passed 
that fearful line, they breathed free. What a rest that was 
that night on wide Olivet! What thanksgiving and praise 

*Josephus, Wars. Bk. 5. Chap. 11. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


225 


went up to God from the two tents which Metellus had pro- 
vided for the company. Then Metellus explained the mystery 
that had tried EacheFs and John^s faith. 

Deserters from the city were found by the army to have 
swallowed Jewels. When this fact became known, the sol- 
diers ripped open every man and woman that crept from 
the gates, in hopes of finding treasure; and no command 
of Titus could restrain them.* 

^^My messengers, said Metellus, “were undoubtedly thus 
killed and had I gone to the gate I could not have saved 
your lives.” 

“So,” said John to Eachel, “God used this way both to 
preserve us and to feed his sheep during those weeks of 
trial.” 

Almost magically, the fresh air, and the relief from 
nervous tension, and the excellent rich viands, told on that 
little company. They fairly reveled in the shade and sun- 
shine; and they made excursions to Jericho, and to the Jor- 
dan and beyond, to Pella, to visit their old friends and sit 
in the sweet dells and under the palm groves. Elule was 
swiftly returning to her former matchless beauty of face and 
form; and the luxurient wealth of her snowy tresses, 
dressed to please Metellus after the fashion of the Eoman 
coiflures, made her beauty almost divine to her passionate 
lover. 

One evening after a day^s assault as they sat together 
in front of the company’s tents and conversed, little Paul 
said almost abruptly: “Sir Metellus, I hope they will soon 
build that wall.” 

“What wall, my little fellow?” 

“Granma says before the war is ended they will build a 


Joisefphus, Wars. Bk. 5. Chap. 13. 


226 


THE DYING LAMP; 


wall all around the city, and I wish they would build it right 
away.” 

^^So do I,” laughed Metellus, looking fondly at Elule, 
that would end the siege; but I guess Mother Rachel is 
mistaken.” 

"Oh, no; Granma knows; she heard Jesus say so.”* 

Not many evenings after, Metellus spoke in a ponder- 
ing way: "Strange, very strange! To-day the commander 
Titus called a council and laid before his officers a plan for 
investing the city. The hot-headed were for storming .the 
walls by a general assault; the cautious advised more en- 
gines, while others advised letting the situation stand as it 
was, and permit the famine do its work. But Titus thought 
that food was being secretly conveyed to the city and a 
perfect blockade was impossible without a wall, — and wall 
it is.” 

"When will they build the wall,” broke in a lisping 
voice. 

"To-morrow, my boy; to-morrow!” Little Paul jumped 
up with an exclamation of joy and clapped his hands. But a 
pause and a hush of awe fell on the rest of the company. 

The next day the company saw all the Roman engines 
deserted, and every man of the army ordered to digging, 
with pick and shovel. The enthusiam of those working thou- 
sands was such that in three days a wall stood forth around 
the entire city, measuring in its circuit thirty-five furlongs 
and strengthened by thirteen towers.* (2) As Metellus and 
John walked about it from the foot of Olivet to Herod’s 
monument and then to the hamlet of Erebinthe, and by 
Pompey’s old camp and by the monument of Ananus and 

*Luke 19:43. 

*(2) Josephus, Wars. Bk. 5. Chap. 12. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


227 


around the rock Peristerion, Metellus expressed his astonish- 
ment two or three times that the wall should be built. To 
the Eoman general, Titus, Metellus introduced John as “My 
friend, J ohn Ben Amos.’^ 

“You are fortunate in having the noble Metellus for a 
friend,” remarked the General. 

“As I am fully aware, for he saved my friends and me 
from yonder living death.” 

“I also owe very much to his service,” said the General. 
Metellus bowed his acknowledgment. 

“Is it not unusual to surround a city with such a wall?” 
asked John. 

“I have merely adopted the policy of my father, Vespasian, 
who said: ^Our best way while our enemies are destroying 
one another is to sit still as spectators, rather than to fight 
with men that love murdering and are mad against one 
another, and my opinion is if we aim at quickness as well 
as security we need this wall.” 

“The heaps of corrupting bodies under the walls tell a 
tale,” said J ohn, ^H^ut no tongue can ever describe the horrors 
within the walls. I have seen streets strewn with unburied 
dead thick as forest leaves.” 

Titus groaned out loud. “I call God to witness,” and 
he lifted his hand to heaven, “that this is not my doing. 
Thrice have I offered terms of mercy, and been thrice scorn- 
fully rejected. This is none other than the wrath of 
God.”* 

The hot month of Ab (August) was about finished, and 
Titus, impatient at the stubbornness of the Jews again as- 
saulted the wall of the city, with engines. The tower of 
Antonia was taken and at last the wall of the temple began 


*Jo9eiphus, Wars. Bk. 6. Chap. 3. 


228 


THE DYING LAMP; 


to give way. Everything was now put in readiness to make 
a final assault on the temple on the morrow. 

The Jews were fired to a frenzy of expectancy that on 
the morrow at the supreme moment of need, God would 
smite his foes as he did Sennacharih’s and Cestius’ hosts. 

Late in the afternoon Titus gathered his staff , of six offi- 
cers and held a consultation of war. 

^^Shall we keep the Temple as a trophy for the Eoman 
government or shall we destroy it?’^ 

The names of the six officers of his staff were these: 
Tiberius Alexander, Sextius Cerealis, Larcius Lepidus, Titus 
Frigius, Eternus Fronto. and Marcus Antonius Julianus.'"' 

Some of them advised demolishing the building ac- 
cording to the rules of war; others were for saving it in 
case the Jews deserted it. ^^But if they still continue to 
fight in it,^^ they said, ^The impiety of destroying it would 
then belong to the Jews and not to the Eomans.” 

Titus asked: Although the Jews should get on that 
Holy House and fight us thence, yet ought we to avenge 
ourselves on things inanimate, instead of on the men them- 
selves?^^ and he added, ^Tn any case I am not in favor of 
burning down so vast a work. It will be an ornament to 
our government so long as it stands.” 

So Alexander, Cerealis and Fronto coming over to Titus’ 
opinion, the deciding vote was cast by the General for pre- 
serving the Temple in any event. This decision of the coun- 
cil of war was heralded through all the camps. 

That evening, Metellus in relating the account to the 
listening company added: ^‘1 am sure that you all will 
be happy to know that your splendid temple is to be pre- 
served; surely it is worthy.” 


Josephus, Wars. Bk. 6. Chaip. 4. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


229 


“Noble Metellus/’ said Eachel quietly, “there is a com- 
mander above your general; yea, above Caesar himself, and 
he has already spoken the utter destruction of that temple. 
Titus may plan, but Jesus, the Son of God disposes. He 
is king over all kings, and nations, and armies, and his word 
has already gone forth: “Not one stone shall be left upon 
another, but the whole shall be laid even with the ground.’’* 

Metellus turned to Eachel with a look almost of awe: 
“Good woman, I shall think you are one of the ten Sibyls 
if your words are proven.” 

“Noble Metellus,” said John, “this is not my mother’s 
word; this is the word of the crucified Son of God.” 

That night, — the night of the 10th of Ab, while the 
expectant great host lay sleeping in their tents, and the 
expectant Jews were looking for the supreme manifestation 
of the right hand of God, — about midnight a startling shout 
rolled along the valleys and up the mountain, waking every 
sleeper in the camp; and following, and mingled with the 
shout, a piercing wail, a wild, despairing cry. Instantly Titus 
and Tribunes and army were on their feet. “The temple 
is afire!” The yellow fiames were lighting up its vast marble 
colonnades; a column of smoke was standing like a pillar 
toward heaven. John and Eachel and the others stood at the 
doors of their tents and Elkanah bowed prostrate on the 
earth. The company was speechless. The whole strange and 
awful panorama was plainly visible, for the temple faced 
toward them. The rushing of the soldiers, the tumult, the 
utter confusion, the frantic efforts of the bare-headed Gen- 
eral, the beating of the soldiers by the officers, to compel 
them to put out the fire, the murderous frenzy of all the sol- 
diers, all were plainly seen. The temple area was the scene 


*Matt. 24:2. 


230 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


of an indescribable massacre. Dead bodies lay heaped close 
to the burning building and all around the altar. Men fought 
on the great altar itself and the dead lay there.* (1) The little 
company saw Titus enter the golden sanctuary whose doors 
stood wide open, and while he was in there, they saw a man 
lodge a blazing fagot between one of the great leaves and 
its door post*(l) and almost immediately the great olive doors 
were afire. They saw men bearing out the golden candle- 
sticks and the table of shew-bread with its bowls and trumpets. 
Higher and fiercer rose the flames. The vast structure whose 
golden facade rose two hundred feet from its elevation 
gleamed and flashed, reflecting the fury of the great tongues 
of flame that licked about and lapped its beauty like a fiend. 
Eachel and John stood and wept; the rest of the company 
had withdrawn into the tents, — for the sight was insup- 
portable. 

Mingled with the roaring of the vast pyramid of fire 
were explosions of the huge marble blocks, which were echoed 
from all the mountain sides. But according to an eye wit- 
ness: Around that tower of fire the blood was greater than 

the fire, and the number of slain greater than those that 
slew them.^^* (2) The pavement was nowhere visible for the 
dead bodies and the blood that reflected the yellow light. 
Soldiers clambered over heaps as they drove the starving 
fighters back, up to Mount Zion. 

When the morning dawned, the awful literal bareness 
of the sight was harder to bear than the ghastly lights and 
shadows of the night. 

Metellus, after the morning mess with his comrades, 
came to the tent and walked straight toward Kachel: ^Teace 

••(1) Joseiphus, Wars. Bk. 6. Chap. 4. 

*(2) Bk. 6. Cha-n. 5. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


231 


to you, good woman, 1 know now that your God is the 
true God, and I believe with you that Jesus is the Son of 
God/^ 

“Noble Metellus, because you have seen His power do 
you believe? I pray God to reveal the love of Christ to 
you.” 


232 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTEK XXXL 
SOME FINAL SCENES. 

HE taking of the upper city, or Mount Zion, was 
comparatively easy; for though the Jews fought 
with the fury of maniacs, starvation had sapped their 
strength. In a few days, through a wide breach in the old 
wall of David, flowed a maddened torrent of ten thousand 
swords, wFich gleamed and swept on everywhere, leaving 
behind it heaps on heaps of shapeless human wreckage. When 
its fury was spent, there still remained ninety thousand 
wretches,* whom after suffering the tender mercies of famine 
and pestilence, the weary sword spared to a life of slavery. 
These were driven into pens, and held under guard, until 
they could be sold to slave traders who had flocked from 
all parts of the empire. A human being could be bought 
for a few shekels. 

Great efforts were now put forth by Elkanah, and John, 
and Metellus to And Gad, but to no purpose. Every slave 
pen was visited and his name publicly heralded among the 
captives but without avail. How he perished, if he had 
perished, no one knew. Elule and her father never ceased 
scanning the captives’ faces in their hope against hope. Those 
long columns of slaves, with bound wrists, tied to one an- 
other with ropes, moved away in all directions, — a dreadful, 
heart-rending sight; but our company had lived so long in 
scenes so much more heart-rending, that often they would sit 
at the tent door and not notice the wretched caravans at 
all, except to be assured that Gad was not among them. They 

* Josephus, Wars. Bk. 6. Chap. 9. 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


233 


were taken into Egypt to work its mines; to Caesarea, Philip- 
pi, Antioch, and Pome, to fight with gladiators and wild 
beasts; and to all the great cities of the world to serve the 
tyranny or the lusts of men. 

In the Eoman camp revelry and boisterous gladness 
flotved unrestrained, for the spoil was vast beyond computa- 
tion and the army was soon to start for home. Metellus 
partook of the general enthusiasm, and his heart hounded 
with a great joy; for now that the campaign was ended he 
could take Elule for his bride. His plan was, on his return 
to Eome, to lay down his commission and live a private life 
in his own beautiful home with his lovely bride. 

For some reason unknown to John, Metellus stood very 
high in the esteem of Titus, and so it was, that being fre- 
quently in Metellus’ company, John met the Eoman general 
several times. On one occasion as they two stood and talked, 
Metellus having been called away for a few moments, John 
referred to the Tribune’s plans and said that Metellus’ be- 
trothed had helped to save his life at the time of the Jew’s 
breach of faith. At Titus’ earnest request he gave a full 
account of the affair. The kind hearted General dropped his 
head and mused, and when Metellus returned to their side, 
said jocosely: ^^Good Metellus, your friend tells me a noble 
lady has stolen your heart.” 

^illustrious sir, say rather she has won it with her life.” 

^^A worthy bride for a brave soldier,” said Titus with a 
benign smile. 

The little company were one day seated before their 
tents. The bartering of the slave traders had been going on 
all day; the plunder from the city had been brought in — 
tapestries — raiment — spices — jewels of gold and silver — gold 
and silver service — the melted gold from the temple founda- 


234 


THE DYINQ LAMP; 


tions — gold coin — ivory carvings — ancient parchments — all 
the various gathered riches of hundreds of years were being 
found and brought to camp; it had been a busy day. 

‘‘I suppose/^ said John, “if Ananus, the beloved High 
Priest had lived, he would long ago have persuaded the peo- 
ple to surrender, and the city would have been saved from 
destruction.” 

“And I suppose,” said Metellus, “if Titus had been slain, 
when unarmed he first reconnoitered the walls, the Romans 
would have raised the siege long ago, but God prevented it.” 

“The noble Titus was in danger, was he? I did not know 
that.” 

“I did not expect to see him come out alive, the assault 
from the gates was so unexpected and furious, and he was un- 
prepared. Two men died in interposing their bodies between 
the enemy and him. That was immediately on our ar- 
rival.” 

suppose,” said John, “if Simon Bar Giora had not 
been admitted to the city the people would long ago have 
surrendered. He is a man of influence and courage.” 

“But why, in such appalling suffering did the Jews still 
decline every offer of mercy? I cannot understand it,” said 
Metellus. 

“The real reason was that they were absolutely sure that 
a deliverer would appear. They confidently looked for a Mes- 
siah up to the last moment, who should save their nation 
and city and temple.” ♦ 

“They were deluded,” said Metellus, “I think their Mes- 
siah came and they know him not.” 

John was so astonished at this statement that he merely 
remarked: “Do you think so?” 


^Josephus, Wars. Bk. 0. Chap. 5. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


235 


“Yes/’ said Metellus; “you remember when you dis- 
coursed to me about Jesus the Christ in Antonia; well, I 
thought a more absurd bit of folly never entered a human 
brain; but I have pondered much on these things the last 
two years and six months and I believe that Jesus is in- 
deed what you say he is; at least I am more than half con- 
vinced.” 

John was so happy that he only added: “May God 
grant you full light.” 

“I am asking for it,” said Metellus coolly, and then 
presently he continued: “The Messiah the Jews expected, 
was to be simply a National Deliverer from us Eomans, but 
Jesus the Messiah that has come is a deliverer of the whole 
world; that is surely a majestic conception.” 

“It is a divine conception,” said John hardly believing 
his own ears. 

“I see,” said Metellus, “the Christ delivers from outward 
bondage by delivering from inward bondage first. He takes 
hold of the heart, and frees it from the bondage of sin, I 
see that; all other freedom is a name.” 

John: “Our Savior spoke almost those very words; they 
were: ^When the Son shall make you free then shall you 
be free indeed.’” Metellus: “The whole world needs just 
that kind of deliverance; I need it; Kome needs it; her em- 
perors, her senators, her philosophers, her people, all her 
provinces, the degraded barbarians; we all need it. What an 
Empire this would be if all knew and obeyed the doctrine 
of the Cross, which you preach.” 

“Truly,” said John, “if Jesus Christ lived in every one 
as for instance he lives in my dear mother and in Elkanah; 
(you have noticed the change in Father Elkanah, my dear 
Metellus?) if Christ so lived in every one, war would cease. 


236 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


all oppression would be gone, Inst, and avarice would cease, 
and fear, both' of present and future evil, would be gone/’ 

^^That is a salvation worth talking about. Yes, I have 
marked it. The deliverance wrought by Jesus the Christ 
is more wonderful than anything else I ever beheld.” 

^^Then, too, see how the Savior delivered us, his dis- 
ciples, by the raising of the siege of Cestius and through all 
our various perils.” 

^^Yes,” said Metellus, ^^he seems to take, (if I might 
use the expression) a personal care of each one that puts his 
trust in him.” 

^'Exactly that,” cried J ohn enthusiastically, '^and he 'will 
take it until his salvation is complete, and each disciple 
stands in a renewed and perfect manhood in him; and this 
he will do for anyone, Jew, Eoman, Greek, or Gaul, and will 
bring each soul into the eternal kingdom of his love. Ah, 
Metellus, what a Captain of Salvation he is to inspire his 
soldiers of the Cross.” 

^*^Surely,” said Metellus, looking down on the ruined city, 
^^He makes all earthly conquerors dwindle into nothing.” 

When the sacking of the city was complete, the set day 
came for the distribution of the spoil and giving of prizes. 
That was a royal spectacle on Mount Scopus; thousands of 
legionaries stood in bright armor in serried ranks ready to 
pass, by legions, before their General and his staff, who were 
seated in the Pretorium of the camp. In one of the tents, 
Metellus had placed John and Elule and several of the com- 
pany to view the spectacle. 

The fifth legion was ordered to pass before the bema 
or platform where Titus was seated; and its commander, 
Rufus Servius Publius was called to stand out; and Titus, 
with a few words commending his special bravery^ placed 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


237 


a golden crown on his head; then Lentulns Marcellns, 
Tribune, was called and with words of praise received a 
silver standard from the hands of his General; then Cornelius 
Gripus was called, who stood forth and on bended knee re- 
ceived his spear of gold, and a smile of favor; then Burrus 
Africanus received on his neck a chain of gold, very precious 
and placed by Titus’ own hands; to another an ensign with 
an eagle was granted; and so hero after hero was honored, 
making a long list as the various legions marched and stood 
in their turn. At last Metellus’ lep-ion was called and Marius 
Metellus was called. Titus stood on the bema and said: ^^Noble 
Metellus, I call to remembrance this day that when riding 
in advance of the army I began immediately to reconnoitre 
the walls of the city, a sudden and furious sally by the enemy 
was made upon me almost unarmed.* * The two brave men 
who gave their lives for me in my great peril at that moment, 
I bear in mind, — Quintus Servetus and Aristus Clemenus, 
whose families, if the gods permit me to return to Eome, I 
will honor, but to you. Sir, who survive, who as bravely 
ventured your life, I would give a reward. Ask, therefore, 
noble and brave Metellus, what you wish and it shall be 
granted and may the protecting favor of the gods be yours.” 

John listened in astonishment to these words for no 
inkling of the facts had Metellus ever given him. 

The brave Tribune standing before his commander an- 
swered: ^^Most gracious commander, God preserved the 
precious life of our best beloved commander, and to Him 
be the praise; and you by your prowess given you of God 
delivered our entire legion;* but since you have commanded 
me to name some reward, let such reward as seems good 

*Joisiephus, Wars. Bk. 5. Chap. 2, 

* Josephus. Bk. 5. Chap. 2. 


238 


THE DYING LAMP; 


to your wisdom be given to a friend of mine who has at 
the frequent risk of his life, saved to me a precious life, 
and besides, many other precious lives. I mean my friend, 
John Ben Amos.” 

The story of John^s free distribution of grain had been 
told by Elule to Metellus and by him to Titus, so the request 
of the Tribune while unexpected, was immediately under- 
stood and Titus answered: 

^^Greneral Metellus, it shall be according to your wishes.” 
John could hardly understand the meaning of all this, so 
quietly and unostentatiously was it done. But when to his 
tent that evening a century of soldiers from Titus bore in 
bags ten talents in gold with the following autograph 
message from Titus, John was profoundly moved. 

At the Pretorium, September the 12th, A. TJ. C. 825. 
To John Ben Amos, — My friend: 

It is with pleasure that I accede to the wish of the 
brave Gleneral, Marius Metellus, to reward in this slight way 
the heroism of one who amid many perils, has proved his 
right to have his name placed among the bravest. A guard 
will be stationed at your tent till our departure. 

Titus, commander.” 

John was now a rich man, ten talents in gold (more than 
$200,000) made him for that age a prince in wealth. Half 
the night as the guard walked, he lay making plans how 
he should with this money spread the glorious gospel of his 
blessed Lord, after his arrival in the Eternal City. He 
renewed his consecration and devoted himself and his great 
wealth to his master. But the messengers from Titus brought 
an almost equal astonishment to Metellus and Elule, for 
they deposited at Elule’s feet at the same time, treasure of the 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


239 


same value as John’s and also an autograph epistle from 
Titus: 


At the Pretorium, September the 12th, A. U. C. 825. 

To Elule, betrothed of the Noble Metellus, — and daugh- 
ter of the esteemed Elkanah, friend of the Eomans: 

Most noble Lady, — 

Please accept the accompanying token of esteem. I am 
assured that womanly courage is not confined to Roman ma- 
trons alone. , 

With best wishes for your future happiness, 

Titus, commander.” 

When Elkanah saw the letter and the honor done his 
daughter, and the great wealth laid freely at their feet he 
wept for joy; hut in his tears he said devoutly: ^^The Lord 
has been very merciful; but let us rejoice especially that our 
names are written in heaven.” 

A beautiful vision of the home Metellus had so often 
talked about filled the dreams of the happy, loving heart 
of Elule as she slept that night with her guarded treasure in 
the tent. 


240 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

A RELIGIOUS SPECTACLE OR TWO. 

FTER the numerous honors had been bestowed and 
the plunder of fabrics, and gold, and silver, and 
arms, and armor had been distributed to the legion- 
day was set apart for a public thanksgiving and 
sacrifices to the gods for their aid in the great work. 

Again the whole army was assembled as in a grand re- 
view to witness the ceremonies. The trumpeters blew their 
trumpets; the fires always burning on the altars in the camp, 
were piled with fagots and blazed high. Then Titus in the 
sight of his army descended from his chair on the bema or 
raised platform which was surrounded with a mosaic pave- 
ment, and standing between the altars, offered prayers aloud 
to the gods; — to Jupiter as supreme, and to Mars for his 
special aid in the siege. Images of these gods stood before 
the altars; and that broad-browed, benignant man knelt be- 
fore the marble images and acknowledged in the presence of 
all his troops that his success was due first to Jupiter, in 
signally preserving his own life, amid sudden and great 
perils; in directing the course of the campaign so much bet- 
ter than he or his father, Vespasian, could have done; and 
in crowning their efforts so signally and with so slight loss 
of life to the Romans. Then, before the image of the god 
Mars, he offered thanks for fighting with the Romans and 
against their enemies; for enabling them to overcome so great 
and impregnable fortresses, which never could have been 
taken without his aid;* and for filling their hands with 



aries, a 


* Josephus, Wars. Bk. 6. Chap. 9. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


241 


limitless treasures. To both these gods were dedicated some 
of the golden vessels and furniture taken from the Jewish 
Sanctuary, which on the return to Home should be placed in 
the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Mount, and of Mars 
on the Campus Martius, the golden candlesticks going to the 
temple of Peace. Having thus publicly acknowledged the 
worth and aid of the gods with thanksgiving, he slaughtered 
a white bullock with his own hand, after which it was pre- 
pared for the altar by the priests. The fat and kidneys were 
burned; the flesh was reserved to be distributed among the 
legionaries. Then, at the altar of Mars he sacrificed a white 
ox, a white sheep and a white pig, with customary 
prayers. 

After these ceremonies he proceeded to ascertain the 
omens which should determine whether he was permitted to 
break camp now, or whether the gods desired him to remain 
a week or month longer. Our little company was greatly 
interested in this part of the ceremonies. John was desirous 
to know on what signs or providential leadings so great a man 
as Titus, so intelligent and reasonable a man, would rely 
to guide him in such a practical affair. So, being admitted 
by Metellus to a close view of the sacred plot of ground devo- 
ted to augury, he watched the determining ceremonies. A 
group of white robed Augurs stood in the sacred spot before 
Titus and his dignified and brilliantly arrayed staff. One of 
the Augurs spoke: “After inquiry of the gods, we saw as 
we went forth this very morning a raven, passing over our 
right shoulder; this is a favorable omen, which shows that the 
gods desire the immediate departure of the army, now that its 
great work has been accomplished.^^ 

“More favorable still, we looked again and saw an eagle, 
wing his solitary way; he also was on the right side. Both 


242 


THE DYING LAMP; 


these signs are clear intimations of the pleasure of the gods 
and augur a safe return to Eome/’ 

“We have also examined the livers of the animals sacri- 
ficed and they are favorable in color and shape. However, 
we now come to a final test; if this should also prove propi- 
tious, you, oh Caesar, may confidently break camp at your 
pleasure, even though it be on the morrow.” 

A coop containing a hen and a brood of little chickens 
was set down in the midst of the sacred enclosure. The Augur 
having invoked the guidance of the gods, spoke again: “If 
these chickens shall now refuse to come out, or refuse to 
eat, or if they beat their wings, or utter cries; the former 
signs are nullified; the time is not propitious for embarking. 
It will be the will of the gods that you remain till some more 
propitious day which they will disclose to you; but if as we 
throw these crumbs they eat greedily, so that some crumbs 
fall from their mouths and strike the earth again, the omen 
is favorable; the will of the gods is plain; the army may 
strike its tents on the morrow.” 

The coop door was now opened and the crumbs scat- 
tered before it, when the hungry, half-starved brood, in spite 
of the throng of people about, rushed out and fell upon the 
morsels with great avidity much to the entire satisfaction of 
the assembled Augurs and military dignitaries, who were not 
allowed by the chickens to suffer even a moment’s suspense. 

The ceremonies were concluded with prayers of thanks- 
giving. The camp was now to be broken up after a great 
feast by the whole army celebrating its great victory. Mul- 
titudes of oxen were ordered to be slain and distributed 
through the cohorts, and the soldiers broke ranks uproar- 
ously. 

“To-morrow,” said Metellus, as the little group walked 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


243 


slowly away, with their faces toward Olivet, ^^to-morrow, we 
may bid farewell to all these scenes forever/^ 

Instinctively the members of the party turned and looked 
at the ruined walls and desolation before them, and stood 
still without a word. First, Kachel began to wipe the com- 
ing tears; and then Euth, and then Elule, as she leaned heav- 
ily on Metellus^ arm, bowed her head upon it and sobbed as if 
her heart would break. 

^^My sweet life,” whispered Metellus, was thoughtless; 
remember, this night you shall be mine.” He lifted the 
drooping hand and pressed it secretly to his lips. 

^^Let us go down,” said Elkanah, ‘^that I may see our 
old home once again.” 

So, weeping they clambered over the stones up to the 
market place where the Bazaar used to stand; it was ruined 
past recognition. Then they picked their way through the 
desolation to the old mansion; its beautiful walls still stood; 
and, as they entered its spacious rooms, they seemed to El- 
kanah and Elule to be alive with the memories of the scenes 
of happy by-gone years. Elkanah went up to the chamber 
where Naomi, his wife, had borne to him their sons and their 
daughter; there too, he had watched the light of the mother’s 
dear eyes die out. Heaven seemed very near and no place 
on the wide earth could ever be home to him again. He 
could sojourn and be happy with his only child, — the apple 
of his eye, — ^but his home now, was across the stream of 
twinkling stars, and his heart turned toward that. 

Elule had such a load of homesickness that she walked 
about bewildered and aimlessly, as she leaned heavily on 
Metellus. Her face was pale and she could not weep. Mem- 
ories clustered every where; — at the windows; in every nook 
and corner; on the roof and in the court. 


244 


THE DYING LAMP; 


^^Father/’ she said at last in her unutterable emotion, 
^det us gof and without talking, not daring to break the 
silence they passed out. They then clambered to the place 
where Elthemus’ house had stood, where they had hidden 
during all those dreadful months. It was ruined past recog- 
nition. In the court over the buried dead, lay a great heap 
of tumbled walls; they stood and looked at the pile; they did 
not try to smother the thoughts that would rise. Each heart 
feels its own sorrow; hut every one of that group knew that 
^^Earth had no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.” Long they 
stood there, and then one after the other sat down upon the 
stones, and let grief flow as it would. 

How glorious the cross that lightens all our woe; some- 
time, oh children of the Heavenly Father, God shall wipe 
away our tears, and sometime our sorrows will all be for- 
gotten in His light and love. 

At last they arose, drying their tears, and passed up to 
the temple. The work of demolition had been going on but 
some of the columns remained. The shell alone of the great 
sanctuary remained. It was shorn of its cloisters, its golden 
facade, and golden doors with their overhanging golden 
vine. The naked wall alone still stood on its elevation. The 
beautiful marble blocks were smoked and fractured with fire; 
the altar had been broken in pieces. Elkanah, going up to 
the deserted holy place, knelt at the threshold, and prostra- 
ting himself kissed the sacred stones. 

In the distance could be heard the hilarity of the sol- 
diers. About them was the awful ruin of war. The house 
was desolate.* Metellus and Elule went by themselves and 
sat and looked down eastward through what was once the 
Beautiful Gate. Kachel and John and Ruth and Paul sat 


*Matt 23:38. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


245 


by themselves in one of the great gateways of the Priest’s 
Court, looking south. The place, the recent events, the 
fulfilled time, the fulfilled prophecies, made this visit too 
solemn for conversation. Each was wrapped in meditation; 
in memories or forecasts. To John the old regime had visibly 
passed away, and he looked out on a new order of things. 
The temple with its altar which had been the center and 
soul of Jewish thought, and indeed, of the highest spiritual 
life and truth to the world, was gone; and forever. The old 
dispensation of S3rmbol, and forms, and ritual, was gone. It 
had done its work. Now was to come forth the new and 
universal order of the Spirit, — of reality. 

There had been up to this time one sacred spot, — Mount 
Moriah, where God met men. It was now polluted; in order 
that all mountains might be sacred, and all plains and even 
the sea; that true worshipers anywhere might worship the 
Father in spirit and not in form. 

There had been one temple of the true God, made of 
gold, and marble; and very beautiful; it had been demolished, 
in order that ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- 
sands upon thousands of living marvelous temples of the 
fiesh might be known to be the dwelling of the Spirit. 

There had been an altar on which with short interims, 
sacrifices of bulls and goats had been offered for a thousand 
years; it was now broken in pieces forever; in order that the 
sacrifice of the eternal Son of God on the cross might be 
seen, — a sacrifice not for one man or nation, but for the 
whole world; and for its ages-upon-ages. 

There had been an imposing service repeated Sabbath 
after Sabbath, and year after year, for centuries; it was now 
ended and forever. Henceforth, God was to be served by 
deeds like those of the good Samaritan. Instead of donning 


246 


THE DYING LAMP; 


linen and purple robes, the followers of Jesus were to carry 
baskets and the gospel; instead of walking in solemn proces- 
sion they were to pick their way through city alleys, and 
over mountain paths, carrying the cross whose sweet splen- 
dor of love dissolves all human crosses. 

An ancient priesthood, coming down in pure strain from 
Aaron had for a millennium and a half interposed between 
God and man; the succession was now extinct; from hence- 
forth every believing soul was to be a priest who through 
Jesus Christ approaches the Holy of Holies, and communica- 
ting face to face with God, says: ^‘Lo! I come to do thy 
will, oh Father.” 

There had been a Law, binding and burdening men and 
always plaguing them with a sense of Sin; henceforth Love, 
not Law, is the Word. Kindness, mercy, compassion, the 
desire to give honor or help or sympathy was to be the am- 
bition of the man, of the family, of the nation, of the world. 
Love, Christ’s love, and not duty, is to be religion. The 
living, sympathizing, helpful Christ was now forever to take 
the place of the law in the hearts and lives of men. 

There had been a chosen nation, — God’s peculiar peo- 
ple; its life had now actually been stamped out by the heel 
of the Komans, and its dust scattered to the four corners 
of the earth; that thenceforth a spiritual Israel might take 
its place; children of faith — a spiritual seed, which should 
cover not one small country, but the vast continents of the 
world. 

The age of forms had passed; the new age of the spirit 
had been born from the death of the old. The old kernel 
had perished, the new spiritual life with undying freshness 
and splendor and power was now bursting into view. It 
was such a true vision as this, John had, as he sat there sur- 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


247 


rounded by the dead fragments of the old order. These rev- 
eries were interrupted by the moving of Elkanah toward him 
and repeating half aloud: ^^Alas, the Holy House is left des- 
olate!” 

^‘^True, Father Elkanah, but men are the living temple; 
men are the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit.” 

“I know very well, Ben Amos; I know very well. 
The Lord has risen to the heavenly sanctuary, — to the 
new Jerusalem. It will not be long before I shall wor- 
ship him there face to face. But God seems very near 
to me here. My heart can never forget the sanctuary of 
my people; it seems dearer to me than ever it used 
to.” 

As they went on down the valley of the Kedron, Metellus 
drew John aside a trifle, and told him that before the wed- 
ding ceremony was performed that evening, it was the wish 
of them both to receive the rite of baptism. ^^Elule and I 
have just been talking about confessing Christ, as we sat 
together on the steps. My own mind has been convinced of 
the truth for a long while. Long ago I saw clearly that 
sinful humanity needs a Savior. I see very clearly lately that 
I need a Savior, and I have taken Jesus the Christ as my 
Savior, and my Lord. The idolatrous spectacle of to-day has 
decided me to publicly renounce idolatry and confess Jesus 
as Jjord.” 

^^Bless the Lord,” breathed John fervently. 

‘^My brother, Elule has long been touched by her father’s 
change and by Rachel’s words, and she too, sees as clearly 
as I, that Jesus Christ is the only Savior.” 

^Traise God, he has heard our prayers.” 

"And now, this night before my countrymen, I would 
make confession. I will gird on the armor and meet the 


248 


THE DYING LAMP; 


enemy immediately in the open plain. We wish to he bap- 
tized in the pavilion.” 

That evening, two very simple ceremonies were witnessed 
by the little group, and by a knot of officers. Tribunes and 
Centurions, whom Metellus had invited. 

That evening Metellus led Elule under the blaze of 
torches from Eachel’s tent to the pavilion; accompanied by 
Elkanah and Eachel, Ruth and Paul. The bride and groom 
stood before John in the midst of the officers. On a table 
near them lay two crowns, one of natural olive leaves and the 
other of olive leaves of beaten gold; by the side of these lay 
three spikes of wheat, and a plate holding a loaf of bread. 

Elule’s snow-white, luxuriant hair, shone under and 
lighted her gauzy white veil, which, flowing about her per- 
son, was also lighted with the sheen of her silken white robe. 
The rich, warm color of her beautiful face, and the darkness 
of her expressive eyes, were heightened by the etherial white- 
ness of her hair and costume. Metellus was simply clad in a 
white woolen Roman toga. 

Before his astonished companions in arms Metellus and 
Elule responded to John^s few questions, confessing their 
faith in Christ; and kneeling, received the purifying sym- 
bolic water in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit. 

Rising, a simple marriage ceremony, neither Roman nor 
Jewish, was performed. John handed to Metellus a ring w^hich 
he placed on the bride’s hand with the words, repeated from 
John: ^This servant of the Lord espouseth this handmaid 
of the Lord, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Spirit; world without end. Amen.” 

Then John placed in Elule’s left hand the three yellow 
spikes of bearded wheat; this was in recognition of ancient 



Pompey’s statue. “They turned and saw this statue.” 

(See page 353.) 




• I. 


>■■5 




C % 


I r' 




> 1 . 



IV 


r-' 




■€■■ ‘ 


> — t 


•V 


1 












Ti 



■* i 


^4'* 


V ' ► '» 


4 




> * 




-r 


EE> 


K: 



•»*' 




v« 




* * ^ 


? 






31 



a ■,. il'* 


I jt, ;•■?.(, 




%v \. U' \\i\V ^ 



I ^ 




♦ * 




i^' 


4 ^ 


,U> 





■r ‘.-g^ *yV" 



I 



THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


249 


Eoman customs and of Metellus’ origin. Then John, uniting 
their right hands, placed on their heads the two crowns — 
the golden olive on Elule, and the natural olive on Metellus, 
with the words: crown you husband and wife, in the name 

of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; world 
without end. Amen.” 

After the Lord’s prayer the ceremony was finished. Then 
Metellus and Elule, as his Eoman ancestors had done for 
centuries before him, sat down at the table and in the pres- 
ence of the company, broke the loaf of bread and partook 
of it; after which the banquet was spread and the joyful 
merry making continued far into the night. 


250 


THE DYING LAMP; 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE TRIUMPH. 

ITUS, and his army at last started for Rome via 
Egypt. But the company with John and Metel- 
lus arrived first within the Eternal City. The 
of Rome, seated on her seven hills, including within 
her wide walls great pleasure parks, magnificent Forums, 
countless temples, public buildings of every variety, and 
arches and statuary in bewildering profusion, filled the Jew- 
ish visitors with wonder. The palace of the emperors, the 
mansions of the rich crowning the hills, or secluded in 
groves; and also the wilderness of brick tenement houses of 
the common people rising five or six stories high and holding 
one million two hundred thousand people,* greatly impressed 
them all with increasing astonishment. 

John no longer wondered at the natural air of dominion 
and confidence which Romans always wore. Well might 
they act as if they were the conquerers of the world. 

As the strangers wandered under the guidance of Metel- 
lus about the city, they were amazed, especially, at the seem- 
ingly numberless gods, and the number and architectural 
richness of the temples. 

In the Campus Martius, Metellus showed them a dark, 
deep cave, where Proserpina was worshiped. There the 
priests of the goddess distributed torches to the people who 
brought wheat, barley and beans, and there they feasted 
every year for four days. 

The Emperor himself once a year attended the sacrifices 

*Some estimates give 3 millions or 4 millions of people. 



vastness 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


251 


and offered three rams on these altars. Along with this wor- 
ship -under ground, they had splendid theatrical shows. The 
plebeans and nobility alike were present on these occasions. 
'^Horace wrote a hymn to be sung here,” said Metellus. As 
they walked on beyond the cave they came to a long range 
of marble columns extending far, far down, — a stupendous 
work. ^This,” said Metellus, is the famous Septa Marmorea, 
and is eight stadia square” (one mile square.) They visited 
the Pantheon passing through its Greek portico to 
the circular building where Metellus showed the hun- 
dreds of Eoman gods and goddesses and named a few of 
them. 

John, especially, was interested in a building called the 
Divibitorium, under whose vast and unsupported vaulted roof 
the voting tablets were examined, and counted. They then 
passed through the Baths of Nero; walking over the most 
beautiful mosaic floors, and seeing every appliance for hot, 
cold, steam, spray and s-wimming baths, coveriug acres of 
ground. Now they passed the obelisk raised by Augustus and 
saw how its shadow, falling on a marble mosaic marked the 
hours of the day and also the increase or decrease of the day 
through summer or winter; and now thev saw a colossal ele- 
phant in bronze and other animal figures. Everywhere also 
were scattered statues of famous men; and temples of marble 
stood forth among the trees at every turn. 

^^This temple,” said Metellus, pointing them out, “is' con- 
secrated to Hope, and this to Piety, and this, to the goddess 
Juno.” 

They looked into the open doors of the temple of war 
and saw the double faced Janus. 

On another day they entered the Plaminian Park; and 
there also about them on every side saw temples, and large 


252 


THE DYING LAMP; 


colonnades, semi-circular or square, enclosing temples, all of 
white marble. 

'^This,’^ said Metellus, pointing to a chaste structure, 
^Vas built four hundred years ago and dedicated to Apollo 
for averting a pestilence from the city.” 

They saw the column called Bellica, before the temple 
of Bellona, from which war was publicly declared by the state, 
by the act of casting a spear. 

They saw two very beautiful sculptured temples to Jupi- 
ter Stator, and Juno. Marching down aisles made by rows of 
huge columns within each temple they stood before two vast 
statues, colored like life, one of a noble looking man and 
the other of a beautiful woman, Jupiter and Juno. There 
also they saw a library of books in Latin and Greek, dedicated 
to these gods. They passed two beautiful avenues of trees 
with the gleaming Capitoline temples towering above them. 
They came to the Porticus Philippi, in which was a temple 
dedicated to Hercules, where stood a massive marble form 
of a human giant, holding a symbolical lute and lyre; a scroll 
lay by his side. 

^Tlere,” said their guide, ^^Hercules is worshiped as lead- 
er of the Muses. I think,” he said laughing, ^Vhen I write 
a song to my Elule, I will first come here. Do you wonder 
my brother, that I told you at Antonia that I had no faith 
in gods and goddesses?” 

They stood before the Porticus Pompeii, and gazed at 
its one hundred magnificent columns, and entering the colon- 
nade under the shade of beautiful plane trees, came to a large 
hall used for public business. Metellus pointed to a blank 
wall: 

"There,” he said, "is where the great Julius Caesar was 
assassinated; he fell in front of the building, in front of Pom- 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


253 


pey’s statue. Augustus removed the statue and placed it 
over yonder/^ pointing opposite; they turned and saw the 
statue under the colonnade. ‘^^He then walled up this spot, — 
it was consecrated by the blood of the divine Emperor.” 

They viewed the temples of Diana, of Juno Eegina, of 
Mars, dedicated by Junius Brutus Callaicus, of Castor and 
Pollux, of Vulcan, and many others; all crowned by the su- 
perb temple to Jupiter Capitolinus and the associate temples 
of that mount. 

So Metellus day by day showed his friends the splendors 
of the Queen of the world. At last the day came for the great 
Triumphal procession; for a ‘^Triumph” had been granted Ti- 
tus and his army by the Roman Senate. The city was agog with 
excitement; the streets and squares through which the proces- 
sion was to pass, were festively adored. All the temples were 
opened, — incense was burning on all the altars. Improvised 
stands were erected all along the route; everybody was happy, 
the streets rang with shouts, with the far sounding joyous hum 
of expectation from dense masses of men, women and chil- 
dren, that were pushing their way to get a view of the Em- 
peror and his two sons either outside the gates or from some 
eminence within. 

John with his happy company had found seats 
in the new Circus Maximus. ^^This,” said he as he looked 
down on the sea of heads, ^^used to hold before it was burned 
by Nero, two hundred and fifty thousand people. We have 
in it now 80,000.” All the theaters and stands were 
crowded. All along the way from the Campus Flaminius 
and up through the streets between the Palatine and Celian 
Mounts and along the '^Sacred Way” to the Capitoline 
Mount the crowds surged. At last the little company heard 
the distant shouts growing louder and louder. ‘To Tri- 


254 


THE DYING LAMP; 


umphe! lo triumphe!” and^ mingled with these and sounds 
of music, distant shouts to Vespasian and his sons, Titus, 
and Domitian. As the acclamations grew louder and louder 
with the approach of the procession the vast mass in the 
circus rose at once to their feet with a noise like a mighty 
cataract, and shouted as they caught sight of the preceding 
lictors, such a shout as John’s company had never heard 
before. ^To triumphe!” deafened their ears. First after the 
lictors came the city dignitaries: senators, members of the 
equestrian order and others, a noble looking class of men; 
then trumpeters making martial music; then the spoil taken 
in war; not from Jerusalem, hut from the country about: 
vast quantities of gold and silver and ivory, crowns of gold, 
jewelry, precious stones; these were borne by captive Jews; 
then huge floats passed, each exhibiting a different city cap- 
tured, with captives and the captive general of the city sit- 
ting on the float. One float represented a city assaulted by 
great engines, its walls falling down; another, a city carried 
by storm, the wounded and d3dng trampled under foot of the 
charging victors as they poured through the rent walls; an- 
other represented the leading off of multitudes of captives. 
Lastly the final destruction of the city of Jerusalem was 
shown, its flames rising to heaven; and its walls falling on 
the inhabitants. The temple itself was shown with fire and 
smoke issuing from its golden windows and doors. Jerusa- 
lem passed in very likeness before them, and the company of 
Jews held their hr'eath speechless and pale with excite- 
ment. Then came all kinds of spoil taken from Jerusalem, in 
long procession. At last were seen the golden candlesticks 
and the golden table of shew bread with its silver trumpets, 
and finally the precious rolls of the books of the Law. El- 
kanah bowed ‘his head and covered his face. 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


255 


After the spoil, marched the captives; and in the midst 
of them richly dressed, was the valiant Simon Bar Giora. 
Then followed white sacrificial oxen, with gilded horns; 
their necks wreathed with garlands, led by white-robed 
priests. Next came companies of singers and jesters, filling 
the air with various sounds; and now, “See! SeeT Vespasian 
on horse back, and behind him Titus, and Domitian; all 
mounted on prancing white horses, all clad in royal purple, 
all wearing on their bared heads wreathes of laurel. Notice, 
Vespasian wears over his shoulders the magnificent mantle 
taken from Jupiter Capitolinus. Immediately before these 
conquerors is borne aloft the eagle-crowned, ivory scepter of 
Jupiter. Behind the conqueror and his sons come the staff 
officers. “See!’^ General Metellus rides close behind Titus. 
Then come the ranks of the proud invincibles. With 
what precision of movement they march! A mist of glitter- 
ing spears shines above the moving waves of a seemingly 
endless stream of flashing breast plates. The air is filled 
with the sound of countless clanking shields, and clicking 
swords, and tinkling scales of mail, as if metallic surf were 
creeping through the Circus Maximus. And what a rush 
after the procession had passed! Everybody to the Capitoline 
Mount! There the procession halts. What are they wait- 
ing for? News of his death. Whose death? Oh, the Jewish 
general’s. Presently an officer arrives and reports to the 
Emperor and Titus and Domitian: “Simon Bar Giora has 
been slain according to law.” At the news the crowd sends 
up a wild shout. 

Sacrifices are now offered with prayers to Jupiter, and 
laurel crowns are laid in the lap of the image of Jupiter and 
his divine robes are returned to cover his divine shoulders. 

The ceremonies now are finished and the Emperor and 


256 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


his sons return to the palace, and the multitudes spend the 
hours in revelry. Such a triumph had scarcely been known 
in history. 

In the evening there was another gathering very dif- 
ferent but in truth far more important than the concourse 
of the morning. A little band of Christians, some of them 
the very ones who had been nurtured by the great apostle 
Paul, had gathered in the name of Christ. There were And- 
rionicus, and Junius, Amplias, Urbanus, and Stachys, Apelles, 
and Aristobulus, Tryphena and Triphosa,* and Phligon and 
Hermas, and many others;* all these, John and Metellus and 
all the new comers had met with before; for John, almost 
immediately on arriving at Pome, had gone down to the bar- 
racks of the Pretorian guard to learn more about the fate 
of his beloved apostle; and thence to the little band of dis- 
ciples; he had walked out on the Ostian road, by the tomb of 
Cestius, to Aquae Salvae, where the great apostle of the 
Gentiles had been beheaded. Now on this evening the dis- 
ciples gathered, as they often did, to bear witness to the 
triumph of Chrisf s love in their souls. The scenes of the 
day gave direction to their words. When Metellus spoke, 
he said: 

''The teachings of Jesus the Christ, as spoken by my 
friend John Ben Amos, first impressed me; then as I come to 
know them, the loving spirit shown by the disciples toward 
one another, and to all men; and finally the marvelous ful- 
fillment of the words of Jesus, who proves himself above all 
generals, and armies and emperors.'' He then spoke of Christ’s 
prophecy concerning the suffering of Jerusalem and alluding 

*(1) The names of Tryphena and Triphosa are found in the cata- 
combs. 

*(2) Romans. 16 chapter. 


TEE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


257 


to the triumphal procession, said: ^“^That its representations, 
though vivid, failed to give more than a shadow of the facts, 
for,” said he: ^‘^more than one million one hundred thousand 
people, or just about as many as live in this vast citv of Rome 
to-day, perished with untold suffering in this war in Jerusa- 
lem alone.” 

He then bore witness to them all, believers and unbe- 
lievers, that he had renounced all faith in the state religion 
and joyfully received Jesus as his Savior.” 

After he had finished, Rachel spoke, and said: ‘^There 
is still another prophecy of our Lord, which is to be tested 
in the coming ages of the world. I heard the blessed Lord 
say, that after its destruction Jerusalem should be trodden 
under foot of the Gentiles till the times of the Gentiles 
were fulfilled. (2) So that not till the glorious gospel has 
been published to every creature, under the whole heaven, 
will the city of Jerusalem come again into the possession of 
Israel.” Then she spoke of her love for her Savior and 
Lord and sat down. 

Whereat a member of the Jewish synagogue who was 
present, with great excitement, rose, and vehemently said: 
“Though God has seemed to forsake the city it will not be 
many years before the Jews will collect their strength and 
rebuild Jerusalem, and then the city will be far greater 
and more splendid than ever, as our rabbis here teach us.” 

Had the members of that little company been given 
prophetic vision and looked forward on the nineteen cen- 
turies, as any one with history in hand can look ; back on 
them, they would have beheld a very marvelous thing. They 
would have beheld Jerusalem trodden down of the Gentiles 
for nineteen hundred years; and that too, in spite of the 
*Josephus, Wars. Bk. 6. Chap. 9. (2) Luke 21:24. 


258 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


existence of Jews during all these centuries; and in spite 
of their numbers throughout the world to-day, (8,000,000) 
and in spite of tremendous attempts to gain their rights; in 
spite of all opportunities which might naturally come with 
changes of government through so vast a stretch of time; 
they would have seen Jerusalem still lying, according to the 
word of Him who wept over her, helpless and down trodden. 
They would have seen that not for one single moment during 
all these long centuries had Israel held political possession 
of her city. 

They would have seen that Simon Bar Cocheba, a cen- 
tury after their time, was frustrated in a national attempt to 
rebuild the city, by the whole force of the Roman Empire 
which slew no less than half a million Jews; they would 
have seen that Hadrian the Emperor built on her site a 
Roman city and called it Aelia Capitolina; that Julian the 
Apostate in endeavoring to thwart the Christ gave royal per- 
mission to all Jews of the Empire to return and rebuild 
the city, but that when they essayed the work, there came 
forth upon the builders, according to the testimony of Am- 
mianus Marcellinus, (a heathen, and a friend of Julian) ^^Hor- 
rihle balls of fire breaking out near the foundations, render- 
ing the place inaccessible to the scorched and blasted work- 
men, and which driving them to a distance, the undertaking 
was abandoned.” 

They would have seen that the Persian Khosru II. next 
held the city; then the Roman Heraclius; then the Calif 
Omer, successor of Mohomad; then the Turkish government; 
then Godfrey Bouillon; then the great Saladin; then Frederick 
the II., Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; then the Sultan 
of Damascus; then the Knights Hospitallers; then the 
Ohorasmian Turks; then the Mamlukes; then Sultan Seleni; 


THE GLORIOUS DAWN. 


259 


then the Turkish government; and they would have seen that 
down through nineteen centuries the word of their Lord had 
guided the destinies of all the empires to his will with refer- 
ence to the beloved city. 

After one and another had spoken in that little gather- 
ing, John rose and said: 

^^Eesting on the word of the Lord my mind glances 
down the ages that are coming, and I behold this vast city 
the Empress of the earth, now wholly given over to idolatry, 
become the center of our Christian faith; and these superb 
temples transformed into Christian churches, and these 
straight and marvelous roads become highways for the feet 
of heralds to spread to all the nations of the earth the 
glorious gospel of a perfect salvation, through a crucified 
and risen Eedeemer. The last command of the Lord to his 
disciples was: ^Go ye into all the world and publish the gospel 
to every creature.’ This command was prefaced with the 
announcement of his divinity: ‘All power is given unto 
me in heaven and on earth,’ and followed with the comfort- 
ing assurance: ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the 
end of the world.’ Trusting in his power we go forth to sub- 
due the Empire of Eome; yea, the whole Gentile world itself, 
to Christ; and by and by when the whole world shall have 
learned of Christ, then the Savior himself will come with 
power and great glory, then shall there be a ‘triumph’ in- 
deed; and all nations shall he gathered before him, and he 
shall separate them as the shepherd does the sheep from the 
goats. He said he would come again. As surely as his 
word has been fulfilled to the letter concerning Jerusalem, will 
it be fulfilled concerning his return to earth, and concerning 
his judgment of each man of all the nations. God grant 
that each one of us believing in him and watching for his 


260 


TEE DYING LAMP; 


coming may be placed on his right hand and have a share in 
the great Triumph of the Savior/’ 

The little company after long and loving intercourse 
separated to their homes. 

Quietly and faithfully John and Metellus gave them- 
selves to publishing the tidings of the glorious gospel; not 
without opposition and persecution from Jews and Eomans. 

John having made a pleasant home for his mother and 
Ruth and little Paul, at the north eastern quarter of the 
city near the Colline gate, overlooking the Pretorian camp, 
went oft on missionary tours among the Ooths in the far 
north, established schools and built churches which stood 
for centuries. But he returned from time to time in his tender 
care for the family, and at last he saw his mother fall asleep 
in Jesus. Her last words were: ^‘Behold He cometh.” 

When it became fully known that Metellus had joined 
^^The Christian sect” a fierce opposition burned against him. 
His beautiful home was assaulted once and again. The story 
of his martyrdom after several years of faithful witness for 
the gospel we cannot relate. 

When Elkanah had died, and Metellus had been taken 
from her, Elule was left alone, a mother with three boys. 
And when John on his next return found her desolate, he 
pleaded the love he had always felt for her and she became 
his wife, and with them lived both Ruth and Paul. Little 
Paul and the three boys grew up in the midst of persecu- 
tions which only preserved them from the awful iniquity that 
poisoned with its leprous touch the youth of the city, and 
under the tuition of John and Ruth and Elule they too, 
were fitted for the great work of the Master, and prosecuted 
mightily the work John and Metellus had begun. 

THE END. 





V 



pk1l3. 1902*1 


V . i 




!hV 






-Vr 


jtv'^ 


i'*. V 


‘i-ll 




.1 '• 


M 


; y 



i'*;';‘i ■ ••■■ „ ; ■' ■ ■ ;.' " ^ < '■>• I'ij-'jTOW.swa 

im:;, , 

.'Wivyy ■ .1- ■*■ V*V-; vi, • ^ ',i If) 





; ,1 ; , «• V.-' • ■ 3 f '■‘^ 1 « : • ; ■ ' ' 

-'i ; I'i : 


BlSSs®/ ' . /-/JILir ■ ^-: • . ^^. , • < 


^‘t( *',■:. ''k 


;:.i 


ft M'l I .' ' « U 

■ W'^. ^ 

\ ^1 . ' * t * l' 



Wi; 


r 


1lt9\f<)r, \i\Zf: ‘ i» Ti*Wj i/^i JrTHDiL'A •< '\ ' •* M01 * » »'#'t.t’ *' 

/« ’■•4 ■ '^'''' .m. *' . / 2 »i 4 I'a 


% . V 


> *’•» 


» '^ I ' 

'.‘ i ” 


m 


dv'-.v ■" 

Y' ' '■'" / '■ 

>:*».■ I 




!i 


.i( 


\>* 


-1^- MV,'; 




.V 


1 . 








5^^ 


,'J'. 


¥tt 






( * /, 




:M‘*v 


f!v'" 


m 

fj ' . 


i‘* 






w 



?.L 


{s'r\^ 


f.i 




U 


^V< 



^y> 


/»'• 'f! 


fr 


rV*-> C' 

tr ‘v; 


r'*. ■’■‘V.' v: vtv . ./i; ,' 




i 




r- ji* 


V' 




* ' 


v'> 


VI 




>.v 




•vr 






i ' > 


V'IS 


ii?j 




[Vr>' 




I'l.'Mr 




j‘\ f 


.i 







/m 






n-A 


w 


, (■•• 




. 3 ' A:.:-' '■• ' ' ' ('S , _ 






> r’,' H 


'/^t ' I,' 


f/l/. % 


Jrf'' 


■'>1 


. \ 




V ; 1: -*, 


i 


5 V fS) 


-Vi, 


yi 


}'•»./ V ■ fl‘ 

'rV 'V 


1 >. 








fli 


I’-S 






■’/ 








I?, A 


.. '..• , • • '*■ S ^'^i A . ■ f '.>1 

■l!s^.;;’^^^.,, * 

• ^ ■ '-V',/ '■*/,* V. 




,»»/■ 




r(m%nw, 






u. 








